Carpet Your Classroom

Objective: Students will use math skills to calculate square footage and cost of a new floor.
Teacher: newspaper.
Student: pencil, paper, calculator.
Teacher Preparation: Locate a newspaper containing an ad for carpet or tile.

1. Review with students the process for calculating square footage, and for converting square feet to square yards.
2. Have a group of students measure the classroom. Write the dimensions on the chalkboard.
3. Using various prices from the newspaper, have students calculate the cost of carpet or tile for your classroom.
4: Bonus: When actually ordering carpet, most vendors recommend purchasing 10% extra, to cover any number of mistakes that could happen during installation.

Variations/Options: Divide the room into sections, part with tile and part with carpet; For an art project, have students use square yard blocks and design interesting patterns for the floor, drawing to scale on paper and calculating the total cost.