Budgeting Your Life

Middle Schoolers do not live in reality. They just don’t. They all believe that they will grow up to be the next Biebs or 1D… that they will be rich, famous and not have to do any work for it.

Seriously.

So, I decided that as part of our math/technology integration this year we were going to learn to keep a budget. (ps.. why did none of my teachers teach me this same skill??? This is something I am still trying to master!)

During our afternoon computer lab sessions ( as a teacher in a small Christian School I get to wear many hats!) I have been having the students research starting salaries of jobs, looking into cities that they would want to live in, finding an apartment that is within their budget. It has been exciting for all of us! And hopefully educational for most of us…..

Overheard while working on their budgets…

“But Mrs. H if I have to take all of these things out of my budget how will I buy any new anime books??”

“Can’t I just live in my Mom’s basement forever?”

“How long can you survive while fasting?”

Ahh… the sweet sounds of reality sinking in.

I’ve attached the packet that my students are working on currently. (here :Budgeting My Life Project)  This is a really fun project to get kids to do to think about how far money actually goes and what “being a grown-up” really means. It is really interesting to have your kids struggle through how to make their budget work for them as if it is reality and then ask them questions like… What didn’t I include in your budget that you would have to pay for in real life? I didn’t ask you to buy any furniture… how much do you think a bed would cost? Or a couch?

checking out how far their new job is from a potential apartment.. gotta consider those transportation costs!

I’ve found that this is a great conversation starter into helping kids gain a greater understanding of how money works and how the real world works…. plus it is developing a skill all of them will (hopefully) be able to take to the bank later!!

Have fun budgeting with your our band of middle schoolers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Product Shout Out!

Seriously obsessed. Actually makes me want to grade 🙂

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Divisibility Rules

Personal Lesson Planning Rule: Never plan a lesson that involves students sitting in their desks for more than 20 minutes.

I can’t sit still. I am a tactile, kinesthetic learner. Therefore, I TOTALLY get the kids who is bouncing off the walls after 20 minutes of independent work.

I feel ya, kid playing a drum solo with your feet, I feel ya.

So I came up with my personal rule for the most part I follow it pretty well. There are days where I can’t, but for the most part I stick to it. Even if kids are not required to move every 20 minutes, they are at least always given the option.

So whenever possible when it comes to informal assessment, I try to make it something where the students are constantly moving. Thus the fly swatter game was born… and it was a HIT!

Basics of Fly Swatter Review;
1. All you need is a projector, powerpoint, 2 fly swatters and a board or wall you don’t care about kids slapping.
2. I always play this game as a way of informally assessing how well students have grasped a new concept.
3. It is generally played whole group.
4. On each slide there is a question and several answer choices.
5. 2 students ( or more theoretically) come up representing 2 different teams.
6. The first person to slap the correct answer wins a point for their team!
7. You can always make games INSTANTLY more cool with middle schoolers by giving their teams hip, culturally relevant names ( popular in Mrs. Hanson’s room right now: Zombies v. Humans; Justin v. Selena)

Today warmed my kiddos brains up by playing the fly swatter game with their newly learned divisibility rules and then I slapped a surprise quiz on them reviewing the same rules.

But I put a smiley face on my pop quiz so that makes it better right??

Both are available to download on my tpt store FO FREE! Have at ’em! (http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Hanson)

Divisibility Style.. not Gangnam Style.