Finding Percent of a Number Cheat Sheet

Finding Percent of a Number Cheat Sheet

Knowing how to calculate the percentage of a number is pretty much the basis of consumer math. This skill comes up when calculating interest, tips at restaurants, discounts from coupons, tax on purchased items and with budgeting. It's such a simple but important skill for students to learn and really become comfortable with before graduation.


In this post, I want to share a finding percentage of a number handout for your students.


I recently posted a cheat sheet on Facebook and got a comment about another cheat sheet I had shared some time ago in our consumer math Facebook group. It's a sheet showing students how to find a percentage of a number by dividing by 2 to find 50%, dividing by 4 to find 25%, etc. I had completely forgotten to ever share the sheet here on my blog, so wanted to write this short post sharing it from my Google Drive.


Finding Percent of a Number Cheat Sheet


After sharing the sheet in the Facebook group, I got feedback to add 1% to the sheet. So when you download it, how to find 1% will also be there.


>> You can download the finding percentage of a number sheet here from my Google Drive.


Percent activities


tax, tip and discounts digital math escape room activity
Percent Tax, Tip, Discount Digital Math Escape Room

Students unlock 5 locks by finding percents in this tax, tip and discounts digital math escape room activity. The activity comes digital in Google Forms and printable PDF.


converting fraction, decimal percent digital math escape room activity
Converting Fractions, Decimals, Percents Digital Math Escape Room

This converting fraction, decimal percent digital math escape room activity has students converting the different forms: fractions to decimals, decimals to percents, percents to decimals, decimals to fractions and fractions to percents.


percent change task cards activity
Percent Change Task Cards Activity

This percent change task cards activity sparks a lot of conversations about how prices have changed over the years. Students calculate and compare percent change between past and present costs of items.


percent change coloring activity sheet
Percent Change Coloring Sheet

Students practice finding percent change on this 1-page percent change coloring activity sheet.




  



2 Pi Day digital math escape room activities

Today is Pi Day so I wanted to share a couple digital activity ideas. Both also come in print, if you prefer having your students work on paper. 


Pi Day Digital Math Escape Room Activity for middle school

The first is a Pi Day digital math escape room for middle school where students find either the area or the circumference of a circle, given diameter or radius. Students calculate their answers then type the correct 4-letter code to move to the next puzzle. 


Pi Day Digital Math Escape Room Activity

The next is a Pi Day digital math escape room for older kids. In some of the problems, students are asked to find the diameter or radius, given circumference or area. The correct 4-letter code will unlock the next puzzle.


My husband forwarded the Morning Brew newsletter to me this morning with this absolutely astounding story about Akira Haraguchi memorizing 100,000 digits of pi. 100 digits would be impressive, but 100,000?! The short article mentions him "mentally linking each digit with a syllable and creating a collection of epic stories from the words those syllables formed."😲


Browse all Pi Day math activities


Browse all digital math escape rooms



"2 Truths and a Lie" Error Analysis Math Activities



In this post you'll find "2 truths and a lie" math activities, each with error analysis questions built right in. Every activity is set up the same way-- find the error (the "lie") on each card, then correct the error on the student answer sheet. Students get practice identifying math errors in the context of different math topics, and then with fixing those errors.


"2 Truths and a Lie" Integer Operations Review Error Analysis Activity


Here is the first card from an integer operations "2 truths and a lie" error analysis activity. There are 3 integer operations problems on the card, along with 3 statements comparing the answers. Students solve the 3 problems then figure out which statement is the "lie". Students then fix the lie on their answer sheet.


How many folds to reach the Moon?



You probably already know that if you could fold a piece of paper 42 times the stack would reach the Moon. This always feels so unbelievable, but the math checks out! In this post, I want to share a couple handouts for students to support a discussion about exponential growth, folding paper to reach the Moon and also a few conversation starters.


Free Printable Multiplication Poster



Last summer, my daughter worked hard to learn her multiplication facts. Some facts she memorized, some she used strategies such as building on the facts that she already knew. For example, she adds one more number to her 11s to get to 12s. For 8 x 12, she multiplies 8 x 11 and adds 8. This was a multiplication strategy she completely taught herself.


Teaching Budgeting in High School Consumer Math

Teaching Budgets in High School Consumer Math

Teaching the ins and outs of budgeting was one of my favorite units to teach in Consumer Math. It started with us calculating net monthly income and ended with us commenting on how much we all spend on food. It was a fun unit to teach because it gave students the tools to analyze their own spending and how it aligned with their future goals.


In our wages and salary unit, we learned that net monthly income is about 70% of gross monthly income. We often used this net income estimation when budgeting.


budgets warm up - Scaffolded Consumer Math Curriculum


New Health Insurance Unit-- consumer math curriculum

New Health Insurance Consumer Math Unit


The Scaffolded Consumer Math Curriculum has a new unit-- health insurance. Students will learn the ins and outs of copays, coinsurance, deductibles, out of pocket maximums, and of course the math behind it all.


Just like every other unit in the curriculum, the new health insurance unit includes a printable PDF student book unit, a teacher's unit with answers to questions asked in the student book, student notebook pages, PowerPoint notes, an editable quiz, warm-ups and all answer keys.


Vocabulary includes: premium, deductible, plan, deductible balance, HMP, PPO, copay, coinsurance, PCP, referral, specialist, out of pocket maximum, open enrollment period.


There's a lot of math involved in health insurance, especially between meeting a deductible and meeting OOPM, and with coinsurance payments. My hope is that this new unit clarifies health insurance for your students and gives them confidence calculating costs. 


  

Scaffolded Consumer Math Curriculum
consumer math curriculum



Sums of angles in polygons hands-on discovery

Ripping the corners off a triangle to prove the sum of its interior angles is 180 degree is my favorite visual proof. Over the weekend, I posted a couple short videos for finding the sum of interior angles in a polygon, so here I wanted to share the videos and the worksheets from the videos.

Ripping the corners off a triangle to prove the sum of its interior angles is 180 degree is my favorite visual proof. Over the weekend, I posted a couple short videos for finding the sum of interior angles in a polygon, so here I wanted to share the videos and the worksheets from the videos.