Math
Lesson Plan

Planning an Expedition Budget

Learning Objective:
Select and use appropriate arithmetic operations in practical situations including developing a budget.

Teacher Directions:
Pretend you are going on a Mount Everest expedition. When planning a mountain climbing expedition, you did to think about many things. You need to think about equipment, food, clothing and other items that cost money. Here is a list of questions to help you think about and organize your thoughts so that you can begin to build a budget for your expedition:

Let’s get started. First, let’s take a look at a Web site that has some reliable advice for selecting equipment and other necessary items: MNTEVEREST.Net. Click on "Equipment List."

Review the list. Select items you deem necessary (such as boots, socks, ice axe, carabiners, rappel device, harness, clothing, sleeping gear, camping gear and personal items). It is okay if you don’t select everything that you would need since you are doing this exercise as practice. Use the first column of the Chart* to list items that you select. In column two, write the number of items you will need based on how many people will be going on this expedition.

Now you need to find out how much each item will cost. One Web site has a search engine where you can type in the item and it will provide photos and prices. REI

In column three of the chart, write in the per unit cost. Now you need to calculate in column four the total cost for each item. How would you do that? Would you add or multiply?

How would you calculate the total cost for everything? Would you add or multiply? What numbers would you use? Where would you put your answer?

Resources:
MNTEVEREST.Net
Merriam Webster Online
REI

Activity Sheet:
Chart*

Assessment:
Math Assessment Sheet*