About
Are you looking for a way to reinforce basic multiplication and division concepts in an engaging way that helps your students make connections? “Run a Lawn Mowing Business” is a real-life math project where students will complete THIRTEEN different multiplication and division tasks. This project will help your students see how multiplication and division are used in real life.
Ideas for use
Math projects are an ideal way to consolidate learning. I recommend using them as an engaging activity AFTER skills have been learned rather than during learning. You will likely find that engagement is very high and that your students ask to do more of these!
There are many ways to use math projects in your classroom. Some of the most popular are:
•a small-group or pairs activity
•a guided math activity to allow you to see where your students are struggling
•a fun, rewarding way to engage your early finishers
•a low-prep, easy-to-implement activity for a substitute teacher
You might choose to print specific tasks to use during Math centers, or you might make a booklet out of all of the tasks and let your students choose which one to do when.
This resource is included in PDF format for printing and in Google Slides™️ format for digital and distance learning. This makes it useable with Google Classroom™️.
What Included?
Take a look at what you’ll find inside this math project:
TASK #1: Your Business Plan
Any new business needs a plan! Let’s think of a name, and then work with three different revenue and expense scenarios.
Skills: basic multiplication, multiplying a single-digit number by a multiple of 10, subtraction
TASK#2: ADVERTISING
Now that we’ve made a business plan, it’s time to get advertising! First we’ll make a poster to put up around town. Then we’ll take a look at two different print shops to see where the best deal is.
Skills: basic division facts
TASK #3: TAKING BOOKINGS
You’ve been advertising and now the bookings are coming in! You’re off to a great start! Now that we’ve got bookings, we’ll use a tally chart to figure out the estimated fuel expense and revenue for the eight weeks of summer.
Skills: basic multiplication facts, tally charts, addition
TASK #4: YOUR TRANSPORTATION PLAN
You and your dad will be building a trailer so that you can haul your lawn mower behind your bike. In this task we’ll work with the building of the trailer and the ride times to each yard.
Skills: basic multiplication and division, elapsed time
TASK#5: TIME TO MOW!
Your lawn mower is full of gas, your trailer is ready, and you are excited! In this task we’ll look at two of the yards you’ll be mowing. We’ll calculate the area to mow and work with other details such as flower gardens, fences, and length of time to mow.
Skills: multiplication by a multiple of 10, area of regular and irregular shapes, basic multiplication facts, basic division facts, elapsed time
TASK #6: UH OH…A BREAKDOWN
Just as business was moving along smoothly, you make a big mistake. Solve the equations to find out what the mistake was.
Skills: basic multiplication and division facts
TASK #7: BACK IN BUSINESS
Your lawn mower is fixed, and you’re back in business! Let’s mow another lawn!
Skills: basic multiplication and division, area
TASK#8: SOLVING PROBLEMS
Being able to solve problems is a big part of running a business – and you seem to be solving a lot of them as you mow each lawn! Solve each problem.
Skills: basic multiplication and division, multi-step word problems
TASK #9: YOUR SAVINGS JARS
Summer is over, and you’ve managed to save up quite a bit of money! You know that it’s important to manage your earnings in a smart way, so you set up three different jars – saving, spending, and giving. Let’s see what’s in each jar.
Skills: basic multiplication facts, money
TASK #10: ENCOUNTERING OBSTACLES
Whether it’s trees, shrubs, gardens, or lawn decorations, there are always obstacles to work around while you’re mowing the lawn!
Skills: basic multiplication and division facts, fact families, perimeter
TASK #11: EXTRA JOBS
You’re finding that when you are working on mowing lawns, you are sometimes asked to do other things as well! Since you’re trying to save money, you’ll take all the work you can get!
Skills: basic multiplication and division facts, multi-step word problems
TASK #12: FINAL REVENUE AND EXPENSES
Summer is over and this summer job was a success! You had a lot of fun running your business, and you were able to save up quite a bit! Let’s take a look at final revenue and expenses for the summer.
Skills: basic multiplication, multiplying by 20, addition
TASK #13: SAVING, SPENDING, AND GIVING
Now for the fun part – figuring out how you will save, spend, and give. In this task we’ll work with each of those categories!
Skills: basic multiplication and division facts, money
What Teachers Are Saying
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "My gifted students had so much fun with this! They were able to work at a pace that worked for them on the standards the rest of the class was working on, but on a higher level." Stephanie S.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "This was a great activity to use for the end of the year. It connected with "Lawn Boy", a book we read together in reading. My students loved creating their own business!" A Whole Llama Love
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "My students are enjoying this project. Especially since its something that they could see themselves doing in a few short years. Activities are engaging and it involves so many different math skills. Great project!" Christine S.
