Susan Riggleman

Strategy Collection
Burman, L., & Slemrod, J. (2013). Taxes in America : what everyone needs to know.
Oxford University Press.

Taxes are a very tangible example of why someone would need to learn percentages.
Since this book explains how to do taxes and how to calculate totals, it’s a great trade
book for teaching the relevance of this topic. Every person in America will have to pay
taxes at some point in their life, and the earlier that this concept is introduced to students,
the better off they will be. If there were a way to intertwine to “How to” of taxes into the
curriculum using percentages, everyone in the classroom would be better off.
1. To introduce this topic, I would use a Word Sort Strategy. I would pick some of the key
vocabulary that I want the students to know by the end of the unit and similarly to how I
introduces this strategy in class, I would have them complete the Word Sort with various
categories. At the beginning of the unit, I would have the students, individually, sort the words
into “I Know”, “I Have an Idea”, and “I Don’t Know at All” categories. From this, I would get a
better idea of what direction to go with the lessons. Assuming I spend two weeks on this
resource, at the end of the first I would have the students group the words into given categories
that could include, but aren’t limited to “Documents”, “Income”, “Identification”, etc. From
here, broad misconceptions could be corrected and there would still be time to put the new or
changed information into practice before a test or exam. This sort I would most likely do with
groups so that they could bounce ideas off of one another and teach themselves. This would be
beneficial because the students speak each other’s language and can explain things in a way that
resonates with them. Since this would be in the middle of the unit, I will have already taught
them about these things in a way that made sense to me and if they aren’t understanding, a new
explanation may be the answer for them. As a review at the end of the unit, I would allow the
students to make their own categories so that they are able to further familiar themselves with the
content and also connect dots in their mind in a way that works for them.
Notebooks, J. (2017). My Monthly Bill Paying Log Organizational Planning Journal.

This organizational tool for bills would be a great way to show students how late fees and
interest can affect the amount of money you have to pay on a bill. While this is a topic to
be taught in seventh or eighth grade, an early introduction to this idea wouldn’t hurt
anyone. I think exposure to the concept of bills can be helpful because if you have an
understanding of how to calculate your interest and late fees, you’ll be much less likely to
put yourself in that situation where you have to pay more. This is a simple budgeting tool
that I think would benefit both the teacher and the student.
2. To introduce this topic, I would use a Graphic Organizer. To preface, I would limit the
potential products to table style graphic organizers. I think that the best way for me to teach this
would be to allow the students to come up with their own budget journal before showing them
this book. Every page in this book is the same and really is its own graphic organizer. After the
students had been given time to make their own, we could compare them to one another and
discuss which elements of each should be kept or eliminated for efficiency. While the book is a
great place to start, by allowing students to make it their own, they will more easily be able to
identify with it. It also provides a sense of ownership, and they will be more likely to use their
own work.
Karon, J., & McIntosh, M. (2004). Jan Karon's Mitford cookbook & kitchen reader.
Viking.

Understanding fractions and how to manipulate is a key component of cooking from a

recipe. I can think of many reasons why but to name a few would be if you need to cut
your recipe in half or multiply it by two. In either case you would need to know how to
multiply or divide the fractioned portions of each ingredient so that you could properly
reproduce the recipe in a smaller or larger version. Another reason you would need to
know how to manipulate fractions while cooking is of you only have certain measuring
tools. There have been times when I’ve needed a cup and half of something but only had
the quarter cup measuring cup available to use. In this scenario, you need to know how to
divide a up and a half by a quarter cup in order to know how many to use.
3. To introduce this topic, I would use a Modified Frayer Model. I will attach a copy of the
Frayer model I would use but to put it into words, the middle of the Frayer model is where they
will put the name of their dish that they would choose from the book. The top left box would be
for the individual ingredients and the amounts of each of them which would be the most
important part of this model. The top right would be for the students to calculate what doing half
of the recipe would do to the amount of ingredients. The bottom left would be similar, but it
would be for if you double the recipe. The bottom right I would have the students convert
teaspoons to tablespoons, tablespoons to cups, and cups to tablespoons using conversion
equations that would be given to them on the handout. This way the students will be able to learn
the practical skills of doing half or twice a recipe, which often will have to be done and they can
convert measurements. I will provide the equations because they will always be able to look up
the conversion, but they should know how to get from one to the next.
Dun, F. (1970). American farming and food. Longmans, Green, and Co.

This is a book about farming, this is something that would’ve helped me understand how
to interpret answers to problems in a real-world context. It can be hard to translate
numbers back into things but in farming that often happens. You could calculate that the
ideal number of seeds to fill your space if 115.5 but you can’t have half a seed, so you
have to know that you need 115 instead. This would just be an example of when you
may need to adjust your answer.
4. To introduce this topic I would use the Cubes Technique. This strategy is specific to
understanding word problems. It is more or less a guide to attacking a word problem in a
mathematical context. Circle, Underline, Box, Examine, Solve. Circle the given information,
underline the question, box operation clues (more, less, etc.), examine the question, and solve.
Students would not be given a handout for this, they would just do this e=technique with the
problems that would be given to them. For this specific trade book, I would focus in on
examining the question. This is where you look for what label or unit your answer will have and
that is the focus of this resource. It would be important to discuss the result and what you’d be
able to get as a plausible answer.
Beyer, J. (2009). The quilter's album of patchwork patterns : more than 4050 pieced
blocks for quilters. Breckling Press.

Quilting is a super obvious tool to identify patterns and norms. There are so many
options, some are easier than others. This would be a great way to build on students'
knowledge and increase the difficulty of content. There are also students who may be
familiar with quilting and would be able to identify with. Also, while many students may
never make a quilt on their own, they will most likely see one at some point.
5. To introduce this topic I would use Socratic Circles. Generally, in quilting there are multiple
ways to find patterns so the discussion could be more open ended. Outside of the patterns, there
are other things that could be talk about such as the size and ratios, so the students would have a
lot of range as to what could be discussed. By allowing the students to discuss and ask each other
questions, I’d be giving them creative freedom to find unique patterns that go deeper than what
you may be able to notice at the their first glance.