Objective

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to apply arithmetic concepts to solve problems related to Animal Crossing.

Materials and Prep

• Pen or pencil
• Calculator (optional)
• Basic knowledge of arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division)

Activities

1. Activity: Buying Furniture

   Imagine you are playing Animal Crossing and you want to buy new furniture for your virtual house. Create a budget of 5000 Bells (in-game currency) and browse through the available furniture items. Calculate the total cost of the items you want to purchase and make sure it does not exceed your budget. If it does, revise your choices until you stay within budget.

2. Activity: Catching Bugs

   In Animal Crossing, you can catch bugs to sell for Bells. Research the selling prices of different bugs and create a list of bugs you want to catch. Calculate the total value of the bugs you catch in a day and keep track of your earnings. Challenge yourself to catch bugs with the highest value to maximize your earnings.

3. Activity: Gardening

   In Animal Crossing, you can grow and sell various types of flowers. Choose three different types of flowers and determine how many you want to plant. Calculate the total number of flowers you will have after a certain number of days, considering their growth rate. Also, calculate the potential earnings if each flower sells for 100 Bells. Adjust your planting strategy to maximize your profit.

Seventh Grade Talking Points

• "Arithmetic is a branch of mathematics that deals with numbers and their operations."
• "In Animal Crossing, we can use arithmetic to manage our in-game finances and make strategic decisions."
• "Addition is the operation of combining two or more numbers to find their sum. We use addition when calculating the total cost of furniture or the total value of bugs caught."
• "Subtraction is the operation of taking one number away from another to find the difference. We use subtraction when revising our furniture choices to stay within budget."
• "Multiplication is the operation of repeated addition. We use multiplication when calculating the total number of flowers after a certain number of days."
• "Division is the operation of sharing or separating a quantity into equal parts. We use division when calculating the potential earnings per flower."