Financial Literacy: Vacation Math Project: Budgeting, Percentages, Time Zones, and More!

This Financial Literacy: Vacation Math Project will get students excited about using math in everyday life to plan something fun: a vacation!

They will plan a personal vacation including a flight, hotel, transportation, food, attractions, shopping and insurance.

You can assign students different budgets, start dates, and durations to differentiate, or give everyone the same constraints.

Students will have to practice making trade-offs to stick to their budget.

Six problem solving questions involving time zones suitcase weight, taxes & fees, timeline, and travel speed are also included.

Student Instructions:
First, choose your destination: _______________________
How far from your hometown is it? ____________________
How many time zones away from you is it? _________________
Now, research all of the costs involved in your vacation.
Make sure to be specific and include all of the taxes and fees in each category too.

Grades to Use With:

This project is great for the middle grades (5-8) when students are learning about decimal operations, percentages, time zones, and basic speed calculations (unit rate). It could also work well in a high school special education classroom.

Standards:

CCSS5.NBT.B.7

Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to hundredths, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method and explain the reasoning used.

CCSS6.RP.A.3c

Find a percent of a quantity as a rate per 100 (e.g., 30% of a quantity means 30/100 times the quantity); solve problems involving finding the whole, given a part and the percent.

CCSS6.RP.A.3d

Use ratio reasoning to convert measurement units; manipulate and transform units appropriately when multiplying or dividing quantities.

CCSSMP4

Model with mathematics. Mathematically proficient students can apply the mathematics they know to solve problems arising in everyday life, society, and the workplace. In early grades, this might be as simple as writing an addition equation to describe a situation. In middle grades, a student might apply proportional reasoning to plan a school event or analyze a problem in the community.

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6 page PDF including:

Title Page

Teacher Instructions and Answer Key

Planning Page

Final Budget Page

2 Pages of Problem Solving Questions