Title of Book: Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday
Author: Judith Viorst
Publisher: Macmillan Publishing Company
Publication Date: 1978
Brief Summary of Book: Alexander was the poorest kid in his family. All his brothers had money but all he had was bus token, until his grandparents show up. In this book, we follow Alexander as the money his grandparents had given him dwindles down to nothing but a few bus tokens.
Grade Level Targeted By Learning Activities: The activities listed below are targeted towards 5th grade
Activity 1:
Title of Activity: Do you want a dollar?
TEKS: 5.3B, 5.5B, 5.14A, 5.15A
Source: This activity is an adaptation to an activity found in The I Hate Mathematics! Book by Marilyn Burns published by Yolla Bolly Press in 1975.The activity in the book is called Doing Dishes.
Materials Needed: The provided worksheet, calculator, dry-erase marker
Procedures for Students to Follow: First decide if Alexander should take the dollar or if he should take a penny and let his grandparents double it everyday for two weeks. Then fill in the chart to see if you made the right decision for Alexander.
Assessment: Students can check their answers by using a calculator or by the answer sheet provided.
Miscellaneous Teacher Notes: Create a table (or use the one provided) so that the students may fill in the amount of money for each day. You may want to laminate the chart and have students use a dry-erase marker so that the same sheet can be used over and over.
Activity 2:
Title of Activity: Egg-O
TEKS: 5.1A, 5.1B, 5.3A, 5.14D
Source: Scholastic Inc.
Materials Needed: egg carton, paper, pencil, counter, and a calculator.
Procedures for Students to Follow: This is a game for 1 to 2 players. Students start out with $1.00 on their paper. They place the counter in the egg counter and shake it up. They open the egg carton and whatever number the counter lands on they subtract it from their dollar. The first player to zero wins.
Assessment: Students may check their answers with a calculator.
Miscellaneous Teacher Notes: To recreate this game, you need to write decimal numbers less than zero in the bottom of each egg holder in the egg carton. You can increase the level of difficulty by changing the operation from subtraction to multiplication or division.
Activity 3:
Title of Activity: Math Mania, Alexander style
TEKS: 5.1A, 5.1B, 5.3A, 5.14D
Source: Robin Combs
Materials Needed: game board, number cube, 2 sets of question cards, counters, and a calculator
Procedures for Students to Follow: This is a game for 2 to 4 players. Each player rolls the number cube and moves the corresponding amount of spaces on the board. If they land on a yellow space, they must draw a yellow card and follow the directions on the card. If they land on a purple space, they must draw a purple card and follow the directions on the card. The white spaces are free spaces. The first player to reach the last space on the board wins!
Assessment: Students may check each other’s answers or they may use a calculator to check their answers.
Miscellaneous Teacher Notes: Create a game board. Make two sets of cards, one with word problems and the other with regular problems involving subtracting money. At the bottom of each card write directions such as, “if correct, move ahead two spaces. f incorrect, move back one space.” You could use the same game board with several different sets of cards in order to give your students a fun way to practice different skills they learn in your classroom.