Unit Plan 28 (Grade 7 Math): Percent Mastery—Tax, Tips, Markups, Discounts
7th graders master percent applications through discounts, markups, tax, and tips using proportions and equations. They estimate, apply multipliers, order multistep calculations, and communicate results clearly with money units and accurate rounding.
Focus: Apply percent to multistep contexts with equations and proportional reasoning; communicate with units and rounding.
Grade Level: 7
Subject Area: Mathematics (Ratios & Proportional Reasoning • Expressions & Equations)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 45–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
Students master percent in real-life money contexts: discounts, markups, sales tax, tips, and fees. They flex between proportions and equations using multipliers (for example, final = original × (1 ± rate)), make estimates before calculating, and finish with clear money units and sensible rounding to cents. Emphasis: choosing the correct base, ordering steps correctly in multistep contexts, and checking reasonableness.
Essential Questions
- What is the base for a percent, and how do I decide it in context?
- When should I use a proportion vs an equation with a multiplier?
- How do I sequence steps (discount → tax → tip) and communicate results with units and rounding?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to…
- Use benchmarks (10%, 25%, 50%) to estimate and sanity-check percent calculations.
- Compute single-step discounts/markups and write equations using multipliers such as (1 − r) or (1 + r).
- Solve multistep contexts including sales tax, tips, and fees; choose and justify operation order.
- Translate contexts to proportions and to equations and explain the connection between them.
- State answers with money units, correct rounding, and a reasonableness explanation.
Standards Alignment — CCSS Grade 7
- 7.RP.3: Use proportional relationships to solve multistep ratio and percent problems (simple interest; tax; markups and markdowns; gratuities and commissions; fees; percent error).
- 7.EE.3: Solve multistep real-life and mathematical problems posed with positive and negative rational numbers using tools strategically and assessing reasonableness (mental math, estimation, rounding).
- Mathematical Practices emphasized: MP.1 (make sense), MP.2 (reason quantitatively), MP.4 (model), MP.5 (tools), MP.6 (precision), MP.7 (structure).
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can identify the base and estimate the percent in my head first.
- I can use a multiplier: discount → original × (1 − rate); markup → original × (1 + rate).
- I can sequence steps (for example, discount first, then tax) and explain why.
- I can write and solve a proportion or equation, then round to cents and include dollar units.
- I can check if my answer makes sense using benchmarks or bounds.