Coversions Rock Family Activity Pages

Grades 6–8
Family Activities
Math™
Building Skills with
Fractions, Decimals, and Percents
Dear Family,
WHAT IS AN ACTUARY?
In school, your child has been studying
Conversions Rock, a dynamic new math
program for grades 6–8.
Actuaries are statistical experts who
provide advice to businesses,
governments, and organizations to
help them plan for the future. They use
fractions, decimals, and percents and
other math tools in their daily work.
Developed by The Actuarial Foundation,
Conversions Rock builds students’ skills in
converting among fractions, decimals, and
percents, while also helping them see the
relevance of math in their daily lives and in
their futures. The Actuarial Foundation
believes in supporting mathematics
achievement among students through an
array of educational initiatives.
Inside you’ll find three activities to enhance
your child’s abilities with math while focusing
on topics that are of interest to families.
Encourage your child to share the skills that
he or she has learned in school as you work
together to complete the activities.
Sincerely,
The Actuarial Foundation
For students, math skills are
increasingly important not only for
today, but for the future as well.
According to the U.S. Department of
Labor, employment of actuaries is
expected to increase by about 24
percent over the 2006–16 period,
which is much faster than the average
for all other occupations.
For more about educational programs
from The Actuarial Foundation, visit
www.actuarialfoundation.org/
grant/index.html.
Name: _______________________________________________________ Date:____________
FAMILY WORKSHEET 1
What Music
Is Rockin’
Your House?
Answer the fraction
questions below to help
find out the breakdown of
what music your family
likes to listen to.
1.
The Johnson family is having a garage sale of old
CDs. They’ve counted their CDs, and find that they
have 60 CDs total. Use fractions to show what part of
the total each category represents. Show the fraction
in lowest terms or reduced forms.
Types of CDs
Fraction
3.
What music is popular in your house? Look through
your family’s music collection. Write down the
total, and tally the types of music you have in the
house. Like the Johnson’s, create a chart showing
fractions of the total collection that are devoted to
each category. (Note: You may replace category
names below with other categories that are relevant
to your family.)
Classic Rock:
20
Alternative Rock:
12
Types of CDs
Heavy Metal:
10
Classic Rock:
Country Music:
9
Rap:
6
Jazz:
3
Fraction
Alternative Rock:
Heavy Metal:
Country Music:
Rap:
Jazz:
Total:
Fraction
20/60 = 1/3
12/60 = 1/5
10/60 = 1/6
9/60 = 3/20
6/60 = 1/10
3/60 = 1/20
Change the fractions so they have common
denominators, and show how they add up to
one whole.
Answers:
1. Types of CDs
Classic Rock: 20
Alternative Rock: 12
Heavy Metal: 10
Country Music: 9
Rap: 6
Jazz: 3
2. 20/60 (1/3) + 12/60 (1/5) + 10/60 (1/6) + 9/60 (3/20) + 6/60 (1/10) + 3/60 (1/20) = 60/60
3. Answers will vary.
2.
FAMILY WORKSHEET 2
Name: _______________________________________________________ Date:____________
Map Measures
In school you studied how
decimals and proportions can
help you understand scale on a
map. Use your math skills to help
solve the map questions below.
1.
Imagine a family has planned a trip from New York City to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. A map has a scale where
1 inch = 200 miles. The distance from New York City to Orlando on the map measures 4.6 inches. About how many miles
away is Disney World?
2.
Imagine you and your friends decide to make a map of your neighborhood. Using the formula that 2,000 steps =
1 mile, you measure distances from your school to your favorite locations. You write down the distances and then
decide to draw a map where the scale is 0.5 inches = 1 mile. Using decimal measurements, fill in about how many
inches should be between each location, and write down how many steps that should be.
School to library is 0.5 miles
School to post office is 0.7 miles
School to ice-cream shop is 1.3 miles
3. Create a map of your home using a scale where 10 steps = 0.5 inches. Figure out, in inches, distances from your
bedroom to the kitchen, bedroom to the TV, and bedroom to the front door.
For practice, show in inches the following:
18 steps from your bedroom to the TV
=
inches
20 steps from your bedroom to the kitchen
=
inches
25 steps from your bedroom to the front door
=
inches
Answers:
1. If 1 inch/200 miles then 4.6 inches/x miles. x = 920. 2. School to library = 0.5 miles, which is 0.25 inches or 1,000 steps. School to post office = 0.7 miles,
which is 0.35 inches or 1,400 steps. School to ice-cream shop = 1.3 miles, which is 0.65 inches or 1,300 steps. 3. 18 steps from your bedroom to the TV = 0.9
inches; 20 steps from your bedroom to kitchen = 1 inch; 25 steps from your bedroom to front door = 1.25 inches.
FAMILY WORKSHEET 3
Name: _______________________________________________________ Date:____________
Making a
Budget
YOUR MONTHLY BUDGET
INCOME
Per Month
Percentage of Total
Per Month
Percentage of Total
Allowance
Job
Other
Use what you learned in class about
percents, decimals, and fractions to
set up a personal budget for yourself
and track your income and expenses.
Take a look at the simple budget to
the right. You can follow this chart
to help plan your own budget. First,
use your math skills to answer the
questions below.
Total:
EXPENSES
Immediate Fun
(Such as music, movies,
etc.)
Savings Goals—
Immediate
(For bigger items, such
as an MP3 player)
Savings Goals—Future
(For college or other
future savings goals)
Total:
1.
Pat babysits regularly and earns $10 a week. If Pat’s monthly babysitting earnings equal 80% of Pat’s total income,
what is Pat’s total monthly income (assuming a month is 4 weeks long)?
2.
Pat’s only other source of income is a monthly allowance. How much is that?
3.
Let’s assume Pat spends about $5 a week on all the things he likes—song downloads, movies, and ice-cream bars from the
school cafeteria. Pat saves 10% of his income for future goals—he really wants to go to college when he’s older. The rest
goes for his immediate savings—he hopes to buy a portable MP3 player one day. Fill out Pat’s expenses based on this
information. How much does Pat have for immediate savings goals per month (assuming a month is 4 weeks long)?
4.
If a portable MP3 player costs $150, how long will it take Pat to reach that savings goal using his immediate savings?
5.
Budgets are meant to be flexible. Currently, Pat plays song downloads on his computer, but he can’t resist downloading
more and more songs for $1.25 each. The first month of budgeting, he downloads one more song a week than usual. The
next month, Pat spends for 4 more songs a week than usual. Then, he shifts back to his average spending. How long will
it take Pat to get his MP3 player now?
Answers: 1. $40/80% = $x/100%. x is $50. 2. If $50 is Pat’s total monthly income and $40 = 80% of that, then the remaining 20% = $10. 3. Pat’s monthly income is $50, so
his weekly income is $12.50. He spends $5 a week or $20 a month. He puts away 10% a month for his long-term future goals—that’s $5 a month. That leaves $25 a month for
his immediate savings goals. 4. 6 months. 5. 1st month, immediate savings is $20 because he spent $5 extra on songs. 2nd month, immediate savings is $5 because he spent
$20 extra on songs. Then it takes 5 more months of regular immediate savings to reach his goal. It will now take Pat a total of 7 months (instead of 6) to get his MP3 player.