Discounts & Markups

Of course when teaching percents and decimals, a major application is discounts and markups.  Although students see sales and discounts daily, many of them do not know how to calculate them.  I put a lot of focus on this lesson because it is such a practical skill that students will use for the rest of their lives.  This year, I borrowed an idea I found on Pinterest, which of course I cannot find now.
 Students had to create their own store and make an advertisement for five products.  On their advertisement they were required to list the product, a picture, an original selling price, and a discount (in the form of a percent).  In addition to their advertisement, they needed to provide an answer key with the new sale prices based on the discounts.  The next day, I hung up their advertisements and during class they got to "shop."  They filled out a sheet of their purchases on which they calculated how much money they saved.  The students liked this even more than I expected and were engaged for the entire activity.  I will definitely be doing this activity again!

Common Core Math Standards:

7.RP.2.c Represent proportional relationships by equations.