Mason Prep Algebra Summer Math Calendar

Transcription

1 Mason Prep Algebra Summer Math Calendar What students need to do: First, take a look at the list of activities to get an overview of what you ll need to do. Some are a little more involved than others. Some require internet access and time to think and calculate, others can be completed with very few materials at all. Second, take a look at your family s summer calendar. Get a rough idea of what weeks will be good for working on this and when you won t have time. You know yourself and your style should you give yourself a schedule or break it up into mini goals? Do what will work for you. Third, get working. Take it one step at a time and have fun with it. These don t have to be done in order, and they should be spread out over the summer break. Calculators are encouraged on most activities, but you will need to record your steps and show ALL of your work. As you work, continually ask yourself, Does my answer make sense? Check to make sure that you are on the right track and that what you re getting is a reasonable answer. If you get stuck, ask someone for help. As you finish each activity, write the date completed in the square. For anything that s not a worksheet, summarize what you found in a sentence or two on the page where you have shown your calculations. If the question asks you to compare or explain something, do it in writing. You can use sentences or bullets, and you will need to communicate your thoughts clearly and effectively. You don t need to write a book, but you do need to show me what you have learned. For worksheets and websites, note the time and date they were completed on the calendar. You do NOT need to turn in worksheets. What parents need to do: You know your child best does he/she need daily check ins with you to make sure the work is getting done? Do they need guidance on setting up a weekly schedule? Talk with your student about what they discover as they do these activities. You will be amazed at their problem solving processes! If they need help getting started, guide them to the right resources, but encourage them to complete the process independently. Any time you are using math this summer, whether it is balancing a budget, estimating your total at the gas pump, etc., please talk to your child about it. Enlist their help when it is appropriate, and talk to them about your thought process whenever you can. What you need to turn in on the first day of class: The calendar with the dates each activity was completed. Parents can sign each individual activity or the whole calendar at the end this is up to your family to decide. A binder or notebook that includes all written work, solutions, and explanations. Take pride in your work and make it nice! Enjoy! Mrs. James and the Math Department Examples for two activities are included at the end of this packet. Your work doesn t need to look exactly like this, but it gives you an idea of the kind of work and explanations I expect.

2 SUMMER ALGEBRA CALENDAR PAGE 1 I wish I were a little bit taller Weigh and/or measure yourself at the beginning of the summer. Do it again at the end of the summer to find the % of change. Practice Adding and Subtracting Fractions. Use the attached worksheet and check answers or go to ** no calculator*** Where in the World? Get online and check out study abroad programs offered for a college that you might be interested in attending. Find a program that looks good to you and determine its cost. **Many exchange programs only cost regular college tuition + travel expenses!** Practice Multiplying and Dividing Decimals. Use the attached worksheet and check answers. ** no calculator*** Practice Multiplying and Dividing Fractions. Use attached worksheet and check answers. ** no calculator*** Eating Out. While at a restaurant, use mental math to predict what the final bill will be. See how close you are, and then use mental math to calculate the tip. ** no calculator*** Couch Potato. Watch a whole TV show and calculate the ratio of minutes of commercials to minutes of the actual show. Write a proportion to find 1 minute of commercial for x minutes of show. Watch a different show and see if the ratio is the same. Explain why you think it turns out the way it does. Would You Rather Earn a dollar for every foot in 1 mile OR earn a dollar for every day you ve been alive? Whichever answer you choose, justify your reasoning with math. How old do you have to be before it is more beneficial to take the money based on days alive? Imagine that you are given $200 to spend to make math class even better for everyone. How will you spend it? Document how you would spend the money, what you would get, where you would get it, and why. Making the Big Bucks. Pick an athlete, celebrity, or CEO and find out their salary. Calculate how much they make per day, per game, per movie, etc. Find a smaller increment such as a minute or inning. How long would it take this person to make enough to pay for your year at MPS? Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder. Take an interesting photograph that illustrates a mathematical concept that you worked with in Pre-Algebra. it to JamesM@MasonPrep.org with a brief explanation of how it relates to something you have learned. What time do you think it is? After spending a good chunk of the day outside without checking the time, predict what time it is and see how accurate you are. Make it a competition among your family/friends to see who is closest. Frequent Flyer. Make a paper airplane and take it on some test runs. Calculate the mean, median, and mode of its flight distances. Slope. Calculate the rise/run for a set of stairs and express the slope in fraction and decimal form. Compare it to the slope of another set of stairs. Math Superhero. Create one. Draw him or her and give the hero a name and superpowers. Make it mathtastic. Where does all the money go? Take a look at a grocery store receipt and figure out what % of the total bill was spent on meat, drinks, vegetables, household goods, etc. What % of items were discounted?

3 Stocks Part 1. Watch videos to get a basic understanding of the stock market: /?videos=1 Start with What are Stocks, What are Bonds, and What are Mutual Funds, then pick some more (at least two). We will do a big unit on stocks and an investment competition in Algebra, so feel free to check out more videos to give yourself a leg up against your opponents. List titles you chose: SUMMER ALGEBRA CALENDAR PAGE 2 Stocks Part 2. Use Google Finance to track the price of Google (GOOGL), Twitter (TWTR), and a company of your choice. Make a chart and/or graph to show changes in the price per share over the course of a week. Figure out how much 100 shares of each company would be worth at 5 points throughout the time period. Ask an adult to tell you a few companies they think are worth investing in. Hot Enough For You? Record the temperature when you wake up and again late in the afternoon. Calculate the average change in temperature per hour. Pick another location somewhere far away and calculate the rate of change for the same times and day. Run, Forrest, Run. Time yourself running or walking a mile. Pick a faraway destination and calculate how long it would take you to run or walk there. Are there any other factors you need to consider? Extreme Home Makeover. How would you renovate part of your house? What would you add on if you could? Create a scale drawing of a renovation (using graph paper and measurements!) and/or addition to part of your house either by hand or on Google SketchUp. If your house is already just how you want it, how would you improve our school? That Quiz. Go to and practice some graphing and solving equations. You can click on different options to change what you practice. Road Trip. Pick a destination that your family will drive to this summer and determine the distance, estimated time of the trip, and estimated cost for fuel. Compare to the cost and time for flying. OR, pick a place you know you will fly to and compare the cost of flying vs. driving. Which is a better choice? What other factors matter? Practice Combining Like Terms. Use attached worksheets or go to and check answers. Get yourself organized. Go through your materials to make sure that they are complete and easy to follow. Put them together in a folder, binder, notebook, or digital file. Show your final product to someone who is really organized and see if they have any suggestions for you. Have that person sign below to verify that they went over it with you. Make sure everything that needs to be documented attached and that your work and explanations are easy to follow so that you can start Algebra with a 100%!

4 Example: Making the Big Bucks Kevin Plank: CEO of Under Armour, Inc Earnings: $3,556,190 (bloomberg.com) $3,556,190 per year / 365 days = $ per day You can let the calculator crunch the numbers, but you should show each step and label what you are doing. You also need to tell where your information came from. $ per day/24 hours = $ per hour Total Tuition and Fees for MPS Middle School Students $12,870 per year $12,870 total tuition/$ per hour = about 31.7 hours This was tuition for last year you ll want to check the website for current numbers. It would take Kevin Plank about 31.7 hours to earn enough money to pay for a year of middle school tuition at Mason Prep. This is averaging his earnings out through the whole year, when in reality he doesn t work every day or 24 hours per day, so if I just looked at the time he s actually working (which is still probably a lot because he s the head of a huge company), it would really take him a lot less time. I also thought it was interesting that when I looked up information about his salary, I found that his actual salary was just a tiny bit ($26,000), and the rest of the money came in the form of bonuses and stock options. I m not sure why they did it that way, but it must be good for the business.

5 Example: Road Trip This summer, my family will fly from Charleston to Seattle to visit friends and family. Flight info from United.com Cite necessary facts and figures Flight cost: ($ per person)(3 people) = $ total and two days of travel Driving estimate from Google Maps: 2,985 miles each way Label your calculations and explain your reasoning According to Subaru.com, my car gets an average of 26 mpg on the highway miles/26 mpg = gallons of gas each way, or gallons for the whole trip. The price of gas varies throughout the country, so I am going to average the state prices for South Carolina ($2.237 per gallon average) and Washington ($2.757 per gallon average) and use an estimate of $2.497 per gallon for the whole trip. These numbers come from (229.6 gallons)($2.497 per gallon)= $ spent on gas for the trip, minimum of ten days of travel. Just the gas is cheaper than one plane ticket, but there are other factors. We wouldn t be able to do the trip all in one day, so we would need to pay for hotels and food along the way ($100 per day/night), which would put the total way up. Also, time is a major factor. The last time we did this drive, we did it in five days, but that was with driving between hours per day and not doing anything fun along the way because we were in a hurry to get to South Carolina to start new jobs. We wouldn t be able to drive that much per day with a three year old, and also we would end up spending a lot more time in the car than we would on vacation. All in all, I think it s much more worth it to fly! Use critical thinking to draw conclusions!

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