At the beginning of the school year, Byron-Bergen Superintendent Edwards sent the fourth grade students an email requesting their input for next year’s school budget. The result was a math inquiry project in which they created a school budget from start to finish.
“It was a fun, engaging way to get students working with large numbers,” said 4-6 grade Math Content Leader and AIS Provider Diane Taylor. “The goal of this project was to get the students to practice adding, subtracting, and multiplying multi-digit whole numbers in a real world context.”
Students brainstormed items they wanted to purchase, researched prices, estimated quantities based on the school’s enrollment, and then multiplied the prices by the quantity to find costs. Finally, they used addition to find their grand total and subtraction to make sure they stayed within the allotted budget. The students ended the project by creating a Google Slides presentation on their budgets, as well as recording a message to Edwards on Flipgrid, a video engagement platform for educators.
As a result of the students’ work, Edwards asked to visit their classroom with District Business Administrator Lori Prinz and speak with the students about the actual budget process. The students presented to Edwards and Prinz about the project and then Edwards and Prinz presented to the students.
“I am very impressed with the thoughtful and thorough work the students put into this project,” said Edwards. “It is interesting to see their budget priorities and hear their explanations. This project has provided fresh perspectives which is exactly what we hoped for at the onset.”
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