Believe it or not, I use math almost every day. Here are some ways:

• When I am making dinner for my family, I use fractions when I follow a recipe, like making chocolate chip cookies.

• I use money and adding, subtracting, and dividing when I order lunch with friends and need to figure out how much we each owe.

• I use money and adding and subtracting when I keep track of my bank account. It’s important to keep track of how much money you have.

• When my family is planning a trip, like our Walt Disney World trip we took this summer, we use math to make a budget for food and souvenirs. We use adding and subtracting to make sure we don’t go over budget.

I was one of those students who didn't see why learning math in school was important. 😬Yikes, was I wrong! I use it in my life every day, even though I teach reading and writing. Here are some of the ways I use math:

• When I am planning my lessons each day, I have to use time and addition to make a schedule that ensures I can teach you all the things you need. I am a talker and I would go on and on if I didn't have a schedule, so you can be happy I learned math skills too!

• When I go shopping, I am always using multiplication to calculate tax on the things I want to buy. Our sales tax rate is 8.375% so I multiply the price of the item(s) I want to buy by .09 to make sure I have more than enough to cover it. 

• On Saturdays, I usually have cleaning, laundry, and other "chores" to do. (Bad news: chores NEVER go away!) I also want to have fun so I calculate the time I have to get everything I need finished with time left over to go meet my friends or family for some fun.

• When I visit my brother in Phoenix, I need to budget for gas to and from his home. I divide the miles to Phoenix by the miles my car can go on a gallon of gas. Then I multiply that by the price of a gallon of gas to get my total cost of gas for the trip. I also add in money for Diet Coke and coffee, of course!