Number+Sense,+Gr.+8

Michelle Dykstra

This is an 8th grade unit titled "Where is the Best Place To Live?" and was completed in a 40 minute class called Directed Math for the non-proficient students. In this unit students worked in groups of four to find the best place to live. Students were told that they recently graduated from college, were married, had a 1990 Honda Accord and drew for their occupations and their spouses occupation. From this point on each person in the group chose a city and state and found cost of driving back and forth to their new city from their hometown, salaries, population of city, crime rate, cost of living, cost of housing per square foot, etc. The group then had to discuss what they found, share their thoughts in the group and come to a consensus on the top four factors and then choose the best city to live in. Students used computers daily along with graphing calculators, smartview, smartboard, and each group made a voicethread to present their findings to the class. Voicethread is a free website for educators. If you want to get students excited and engaged try Voicethread. You will love it.

**Unit Map: **



 * Activities: **

**WebLinks:** [|http://quickfacts.census.gov] [|http://bestplaces.net] [] [] [|http://mapquest.com] [] []  http://www.voicethread.com

 
 * Assessments: **


 * Sample VoiceThread:**