Buying Plastic Plates
The Webster family is planning a barbecue for one hundred people. The Webster family needs one plastic plate for each person at the barbecue. The Stop and Shop store and Market Place Store both sell plastic plates in packages of fifteen for five dollars and forty-eight cents per package. How many packages of plastic plates does the Webster family need to buy?
Packages of plastic plates are on sale for one-half off the regular price at the Stop and Shop store. Packages of plastic plates are on sale for buy one, get one free at the Market Place store. Which store is offering the better buy for plastic plates? Show all your mathematical thinking.
More Accessible Version
The Webster family is planning a barbecue for one hundred people. The Webster family needs one plastic plate for each person at the barbecue. The Stop and Shop store sells plastic plates in packages of fifteen for five dollars and ninety-nine cents per package. How many packages of plastic plates does the Webster family need to buy? What is the cost of plates for the barbecue? Show all your mathematical thinking.
More Challenging Version
The Webster family is planning a barbecue for one hundred people. The Webster family needs one plastic plate for each person at the barbecue. The Stop and Shop store and Market Place Store both sell plastic plates in packages of fifteen for five dollars and forty-eight cents per package. How many packages of plastic plates does the Webster family need to buy?
Packages of plastic plates are on sale for one-half off the regular price at the Stop and Shop store. Packages of plastic plates are on sale for buy one, get one free at the Market Place store. Which store is offering the better buy for plastic plates?
The Market Place store will sell certain items in bulk. If you buy the plates in cartons of four packages of plates, the store will discount the full carton $2.00. You may only buy full cartons. They will not split cartons for this extra savings. Would buying this way save the family money at the sale price? Show all your mathematical thinking.
Plan
Underlying Mathematical Concepts
Possible Problem-Solving Strategies
Formal Mathematical Language and Symbolic Representation
- Model
- Diagram/Key
- Table
- Number line
- Multiple
- Fraction (1/2)
- Cost
- Pattern
- Greater than (>)/Less than (<)
- Most/Least
- Total/Sum/Product
- Equivalent/Equal to
- Rule (15 • p = t, $5.48 • p = c)
- Graph
- Division
- Quotient
- Multiplication
- Per
- Percent (50%)
- Decimal (0.5)
- Variables
- Whole number
- Place value (ones, tens, tenths, hundredths)
A student may independently select a printed number line, number chart, ten frames, graph paper, etc. as they work on a task.
Suggested Materials
Engagement Image:
Teachers may project the image below to launch this task for their students, define nouns, promote discussion, access prior knowledge, and inspire engagement and problem solving.
Click image to enlarge
MP.1
Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.