How to Teach Trip Planning
Mar 27, 2021
Our next topic in the Consumer Math Blog Series is about how to teach Trip Planning. Read more about why and how you can teach Planning a Trip using my Plan A Trip Lesson Unit (click here to get your copy).
Purpose of Teaching Trip Planning
Students are typically asked to follow the schedule, stay in a set budget, or get somewhere on time, but they aren’t given the space to create those boundaries and parameters. This lesson on trip planning will work to show them all that is taken into consideration when taking a trip.
Key-Must-Teach Concepts
Any time you leave the house is a trip! Yes, a trip to the grocery store, to the movies, to pick-up dinner, to visit Australia- each one is a trip you need to plan for.
Most all trips will require you to think about time and/or money. For sure every trip will have a time span and most will include money, so good trip planning uses a few different skills to be successful.
Plan a Trip Lesson Unit
Lesson Objective
Plan a trip to a local destination and account for schedule (time), transportation, and estimated total cost.
Lesson Unit Break Down
Day 1- Use the topic visual flow chart to show how this topic interrelates to other consumer math topics, then jump to the reading. Use the reading passage option (read below) to really delve into the material. Follow up the reading with the T/F questions and writing prompts. End class with the brain teaser!
Day 2- Day 2 is for Notes and Parts. This part of the lesson unit gets down to business! Be sure to bring in your evidence of how you plan the trips, regardless of how extensive the planning is!
Day 3- Guided practice kicks off Day 3. Students will begin to decide what valuable information they need to gather for a potential trip and then break into small groups to start researching.
Day 4- Independent practice has students further researching and making decisions about their upcoming trip, no matter if it is real or hypothetical.
Day 5- Tie the bow on this lesson with a task card review (see the Task Card Idea below) and assessment. The word search and functional math review are always a hit and a good refresher of key math skills!
Plan a Trip Lesson Unit
Reading Passage Option
Use the GIST worksheet found in my store (free) to have the students summarize the reading into 20 words. This will have them hone in on the key information and exercise precise writing.
Listen and Learn
A Listen & Learn is a short, 5 sentence PowerPoint/Google presentation that introduces the topic using visuals and audio. Ideal for non-readers! Read about what they are and how they might be right for your classroom here.
Task Card Idea
I like the activity of a Group Consensus and this a perfect topic to use this method! Give each student a card and a clothes pin (or paper clip). Tell them they have 30 seconds to answer the question and place the clothespin on their answer. Then, everyone passes their card with the clothespin still attached to the right. Then, that student has 20 seconds to read and answer the question. If the clothes pin is on the right answer then keep it, if they think the answer is wrong then they can move it to the right answer. Continue to do this until everyone has seen every card. At the end, the teacher should review each card and announce the answer the class chose. If the class got the answer right then they get 1 point. Set a goal/target, and once the class reaches it then they get a reward!
Plan a Trip Lesson Unit
Further Practice Idea
There is absolutely no better way to exercise the trip planning muscle than to actually plan a trip! In this case, students would be planning a field trip. See the Trip Experience pages of the Lesson Unit for activities to do while on the trip.
Ultimate Goal of the Lesson Unit
Taking a trip requires a level of planning (some trips take a little and some take a lot), so realizing that you need to plan and prepare for any type of trip is vital. If students can come away realizing that, then they will be successful trip planners!
Plan a Trip Lesson Unit
May I Also Suggest Teaching
Trip planning and Time Management go hand in hand. While you’re at it, throw in a Budget lesson in there too (you won’t regret it)!
You may learn a new idea to two from these Consumer Math Blog Posts:
