Preview · the opening missionRead this to the class:
The Grade 6 class ran a lemonade stand for two days to raise money for a class trip. At the end, Malik counted the cash box and said, "We sold $64 of lemonade! We made a profit!" But Jade, the class treasurer, had kept every receipt, and she said she wasn't so sure. Your team's job: go through every transaction, keep a running balance, and find out whether the stand really made money or ended up in the red.
Teams of three, with jobs that rotate every two cards: Reader (reads the transaction card aloud), Bookkeeper (decides whether it is positive or negative and writes the equation), Checker (checks each new balance on a number line or with counters).
Look inside the PDF
Sample pages, stamped “preview”. The download is the clean, full lesson.
In the full lesson PDF
8 printable pages
- Predict (5–10 min)
- Hunt (20 min)
- Reveal (10–15 min)
- Act (10 min)
- Background for the teacher
- Assessment
- Student sheet
- Worksheet: Transaction cards
- Worksheet: Label it
- Worksheet: Try it at home
On the student sheet
- My prediction
- Our books
- What did we find?
- Our plan for Jade
- Exit ticket
- Transaction cards
- Label it
- Try it at home
US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white. The student sheet is on its own page, ready to photocopy.
Free with an account (any 3 lessons), or US$19 for all 4 lessons in this unit.
What students show by the end
- Represents money in and out with integers
- Adds and subtracts integers
- Interprets the result
From the lesson’s rubric, which scores each one as not yet, getting there or got it.
Questions teachers ask
How long does “Are we in the red?” take?
50–60 min. Group size: teams of 3.
How much prep does it need?
5 minutes: print the Student sheet and one set of Transaction cards per team from the Worksheet, and cut the cards apart. Counters from Lesson 3 are useful but not needed.
What materials do I need?
Transaction cards (from the Worksheet).
Which curriculum standards does it cover?
Common Core Math (US): 6.NS.C.5, 7.NS.A.1 and 7.NS.A.3 (partly).
What’s in the lesson PDF?
A teacher guide that walks you through predict, hunt, reveal, act, background for the teacher and assessment, then a student sheet (“My prediction”, “Our books”, “What did we find?”, “Our plan for Jade”, “Exit ticket”, “Transaction cards”, “Label it” and “Try it at home”) on its own page, ready to photocopy. It’s US Letter and prints cleanly in black and white.
Can I try it for free?
Yes. A free account includes any 3 full lessons of your choice, and this can be one of them. After that, this unit is US$19 for all 4 lessons, yours to keep, or every lesson is US$199 a year.