Review Addition and Subtraction by Planning a Party in Math Class

Review Addition and Subtraction by Planning a Party in Math Class
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Teaching Addition and Subtraction

This is a fun activity for upper elementary or early middle school math classes. It reminds children about the basic skills they have learned in the earlier years, and helps them apply their learning of addition and subtraction skills to a practical situation. It is also a handy tool for teachers to assess their students’ knowledge of addition and subtraction and to check they are operating at the required level for their age and year level. It can be assumed that as a math lesson plan these skills will not need to be taught directly. Instead, the focus is on practical use of math skills aquaired at a younger age.

As a Math Lesson for Primary Students

As a primary math lesson, this activity could involve:

  1. writing a shopping list of food and drinks
  2. estimating the cost of various items finding a total estimate checking supermarket catalogues or visiting a store to check real prices managing money at the register calculating and checking change This could be done in small groups, with each group being responsible for managing one aspect of the party. Each group could have a leader, or the class could divide into teams with each team taking it in turns to host the party.

As Review for Middle School Students

As a lesson for junior secondary students, the skills can be extended further. As well as the above skills used in a primary class, it is reasonable for students at this level to take charge of the planning and implementation side of the party. They could be asked to design invitations, use addition or multiplication skills to work out portion sizes and amounts of food per guest, or to design a placings chart and name tags to show guests where to sit and how the room will be arranged.

Students could also complete tasks such as:

  • learning different ways of paying for items for the party - credit cards, debit cards, cash, store cards etc
  • planning the music - length of time various tracks play for, and how to store and play the music
  • understanding the importance of sticking to a budget and discussing what would happen if the budget was overspent
  • different payment arrangements for parties - such as asking guests to bring a plate each, asking guests to bring their own drinks or planning a party at a time when only snacks are needed instead of a main meal
  • applying their knowledge of addition and subtraction skills to developing their own personal budget (Read more about budgets and money management here.)

Choose A Party Theme

japanese sushi party

Party Themes

As part of your lesson, you could ask your students to work from a theme, such as home grown foods or a Japanese sushi party, as shown in the images above. This gives students the chance to learn about how various aspects of the curriculum link together, as they develop focus questions for their inquiry process, plan a party theme and consider the possibilities of running a theme party in their math class.

This post is part of the series: Maths Lesson Plans for Everyday Living Skills

For maths to remain motivating in upper primary and junior secondary, kids need to see that it has a purpose. This series of maths lesson plans for upper primary and junior secondary covers fun, practical and everyday living activities using key maths skills such as addition and subtraction.

  1. Party Time in Math Class
  2. Planning a Math Vacation
  3. Building Literacy and Math Skills in One Neat Lesson Plan!