Holiday Shopper

This activity uses a prepared spreadsheet and the grocery sales paper from the newspaper to figure the cost of a holiday meal for a certain number of people.

A lesson plan for grades 6–7

By Stephanie Hurley

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• learn to solve a real life situation using a spreadsheet.
• edit a spreadsheet to answer “what if” questions.
• use comparison shopping to find the best buys.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

90 minutes

Materials/resources

• prepared spreadsheet Microsoft Works | Microsoft Excel
• newspaper sales advertisements
• teacher-prepared Holiday Shopper scenario

Technology resources

Computer with Microsoft Works or Excel

Pre-activities

Students need to know spreadsheet vocabulary for ease in following directions in the assignment.

Students also need knowledge of retrieving, editing, and printing spreadsheets.

Activities

1. Discuss and list on the board or overhead projector what foods would you serve to your guests on a holiday (such as Thanksgiving or Christmas). Accept all reasonable answers.
2. Distribute the Holiday Shopper handout and discuss the scenario which describes an amount of people to feed, a menu, and information about wise shopping.
3. Assist students in opening the prepared spreadsheet (Microsoft Works or Microsoft Excel format) that resembles an invoice with places to fill in the food item, amount of items, cost/lb., subtotal, tax, and total. The spreadsheet can also contain a space for a budgeted amount if you choose.
4. While students work on the problems posed by the scenario, discuss ways to solve some of the problems (e.g. working backward, estimating, etc.). Discourage students from attempting any of the problems using “pencil-and-paper” math.
5. The completed spreadsheet can also be used to generate a number of graphs.

Assessment

Students print out their completed spreadsheet with their edited information, and it is then assessed by the teacher. Look for appropriate amounts of food for the number of people invited and the wise choices made. Also check to see if they stayed within the budget, if that is part of the assignment’s requirement. The printed graph can also be part of the assessment.

Supplemental information

See attachments. The worksheet with instructions is provided and a spreadsheet is provided.

Related websites

Spreadsheet ideas from Education World.

Resources for Using Excel in the Classroom.

Comments

This can be used with any sales advertisements. When the various sales occur, collect all of the sales sections out of the newspapers you can find. Create a spreadsheet and a scenario that works with the papers and have fun. Catalogs work as well.

This would even be a great activity for some of your skilled students to do to create a spreadsheet of their own.