The Real Life Project

This project lasts 14 days. Students will get a persona (a job, a salary, and an apartment). Some will have a pet or a car. During the 14 days, students will solve real-life math scenarios involving adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions and decimals, At the end of the 14 days, students will create a percentage chart and circle graph to represent how they spent their money. The students will also solve number sense problems as they do their taxes. Students will reflect on what they learned. A rubric is included to score the project.

• Print and cut the persona cards.
• Give each student the project direction sheet and a persona card.
• They should read their persona card and fill out their information on the direction sheet.
• Each day for 14 days, post and tell the students their daily expenses.
• The students must determine how much their expenses are each day based on their personas. They should write their checks for their expenses and add it to their check register to keep a running total of their bank account.
• ‘Money cards’ are surprise money to add to their bank account. For the days that money cards are listed, students can pull out a card to see how much they can add to their bank account.
• After the 14 days, students will categorize their expenses and determine how much they spent on each category over the 14 days.
• Students should use this category chart to create a circle graph/pie chart and record the percentage of each category’s expenses and answer the questions.
• Students should then complete their taxes,
• To culminate the project, the students should reflect and write about what they learned from doing The Real Life Project.
• Rubric is included