Getting Rich with Math – Financial Literacy
REMEMBER:
Money isn’t used for spending; it can grow if you know how to use it wisely.
Simple interest is similar to earning a fixed bonus each year, whereas compound interest occurs when your savings begin to earn interest on their own. Think of a snowball of money rolling faster and getting bigger as it goes downhill. Whether it’s about savings, investments, or the basics of crypto, understanding money helps you make the smartest choices.
Drawing Graphs – Data Literacy
February 10, 2025
Cupid’s arrow shooting spree is finally over!
Now he wants to see just how many hearts he hit today! How will he graph it out? This lesson covers transforming everyday data into visuals by understanding the concepts of independent and dependent variables. Explore which graphs best tell the story behind our numbers.
Check out the Lesson
Featured Spreadsheets
Data Literacy
Types of Graphs
Click here to view lesson plan
- Overview, visualizing graphs, practice questions, types of graphs, and an introduction to dependent and independent variables!
February 7, 2025
How exactly do input processes affect quality, and has smartphone usage grown over the years? Data analysis consists not only of numbers, but also of visualization and comparison by choosing the right graphs to represent them. This lesson will guide you through data literacy with an introduction to the different types of graphs and a set of practice problems.
The World’s Weirdest Natural Disasters
November 20, 2024
By Marcia Amidon Lusted. Copyright © 2022 by CommonLit, Inc. This text is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Ant-tastic Teamwork!
September 25, 2024
Ants have been around for millions of years. They were found in fosssils over 100 million years old! They are a type of insect. Across 12 000 different species of ants range different shapes, sizes and appearances.
Ants are impressive in many ways, but especially in their strength. A single ant can carry 50 times its body weight. However, when ants work together their feats are even more incredible. For instance, fire ants have been seen making large rafts made of their own bodies during floods in the south of the U.S. In Central American forests, you can see army ants create a hanging, temporary nest where they can protect themselves.
The key behind the ants’ amazing feats are communication and organization. Ants are a social animal species, meaning they live together in communities containing thousands of ants. Each type of ant has a specific role. A species commonly known as paramedic ants will go on raids to capture prey to eat. During these raids, ants will get injured. Rather than leaving them behind, other ants will bring the hurt ants back to the colony where they can recover and get better. Some will take care of the brood while other ants will defend the colony against attackers. Every colony has what’s known as the queen ant, who makes up her own team, as the producer of eggs.
Working together, each ant has a role in keeping the colony alive and well. As strong as an individual ant is on their own, together they are powerful.
The Hubble Telescope – Photographing Worlds Beyond
December 19, 2023
Telescopes have been used for centuries to explore the vast and dark night sky, allowing us to see faraway objects like stars and planets. The first telescopes used lenses, curved clear pieces of glass, to focus light from stars into an image our eyes can see. Nowadays, most telescopes are built with curved mirrors, which are lighter and easier to make.
However, Earth’s natural and man-made elements, such as rain clouds, lights, and the Earth’s atmosphere, interfere with seeing into space. In the 1920s, scientists began discussing the possibility of launching a telescope into space. After decades of research, fixing problems, and getting enough money, the Hubble Telescope was launched into space on April 24, 1990. The telescope has been used daily to observe our universe and take photographs, uncovering many secrets of the universe.
One photograph from 1995 showed a part of the sky that looks empty to our eyes but actually contained more than 3,000 galaxies. A galaxy is a massive collection of gas, dust, billions of stars, and planets held together by gravity. The Milky Way galaxy, shaped like a massive flat spiral, is home to our Solar System and the Sun, one of its many bright stars.
The “Pillars of Creation” capture colourful gaseous blobs from which new stars are being born, something we would never be able to see with our naked eye. With advancements in technology, we can continue to study, share, and admire the wonders of the universe.
Vocabulary
potential – possibility or promise
- You have the potential to reach the top of your profession.
telescope – a cylinder-shaped device to make objects look closer and larger
- With a good telescope, you can see craters on the moon.
interfere – Something or someone that spoils a situation or prevents its progress.
- Even a little noise interferes with my concentration.
astronomy – the scientific study of the universe and of objects that exist naturally in space.
- My brother is interested in astronomy so he bought a small telescope.
iconic – widely known and recognised
- Leonardo da Vinci is known for his iconic paintings and scientific drawings.