Today I am faced with a dilemma. My sixth graders are wrapping up a unit on percentages. It would be a great time to do a shopping project where they have a budget and different stores offer different types of coupons. Sounds like fun. Applies what they’ve learned. Real world.
So what’s holding me back? We’re already at least a week “behind” my year at a glance plan. I know that I won’t be able to do justice to every topic in my curriculum in one year. So how do I make these decisions? When do I cut something later in order to have a great experience now?
My gut is telling me to do the project, but I feel like I and my students might pay for it later. I have no answers, just questions. Let me know what you think.
mathyesyoucan 
This is probably the decision every math teacher hates to make. I’ve only been able to make it come close to working by deciding what the project/activity is going to replace in my curriculum. Otherwise, it’s all just wishful thinking and lots of guilt for me.
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In the end, we did the project, and it was a great use of time. I have lots of tweaks for next year, as I would expect from any first-time project. But it was worth it. It gave them hands-on, real-world experience with what we’re learning, and it gave them voice and choice in what they were buying and how to present their results. A knockout in the affective domain.
Looking at how they did on ERBs last year, I think I can skimp a little on stats to make up the time. They are very strong in stats.
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