Lesson 5

Tiny House: Cost

Warm-up: Estimation Exploration: Cost of a Room (10 minutes)

CCSS Standards


Addressing

Routines and Access


Instructional Routines


Narrative

The purpose of an Estimation Exploration is to practice the skill of estimating a reasonable answer based on experience and known information. 

Launch

  • Groups of 2
  • Display the image.
  • “What is an estimate that’s too high? Too low? About right?”
  • 1 minute: quiet think time

Activity

  • “Discuss your thinking with your partner.”
  • 1 minute: partner discussion
  • Record responses.

Student Facing

What is the cost of all the labeled items in the bus?

Record an estimate that is:

too low about right too high
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Student Response

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Activity Synthesis

  • “What are some of the items you would need to buy to finish the rooms after you built a tiny house?” (furniture, cabinets, stove, lights, pictures, bed)

Activity 1: What’s the Cost? (35 minutes)

CCSS Standards


Addressing

Routines and Access


Access for English Learners

  • MLR8

Access for Students with Disabilities

  • Action and Expression

Narrative

The purpose of this activity is for students to calculate the cost of finishing a room in the tiny house they designed. Students will have a cost sheet with common items, but, if time permits, students could research the cost of additional items that are not listed. Also, the lesson could be extended by having students finish a second room in their tiny house design.

When students decide which room to work on and which items to purchase for the room, with a constraint of \$1,000, they model with mathematics (MP4).

MLR8 Discussion Supports. Prior to solving the problem, invite students to make sense of the items on the cost sheet. Monitor and clarify any questions about the context.
Advances: Reading, Representing
Action and Expression: Internalize Executive Functions. Synthesis: To support working memory, provide students with access to sticky notes or mini whiteboards.
Supports accessibility for: Memory, Organization

Required Materials

Materials to Gather

Required Preparation

  • Each student needs the tiny house design they created in the previous lesson.

Launch

  • Groups of 2
  • “Work independently to calculate the cost of finishing a room in the tiny house you designed. You have a budget of \$1,000. You’ll have some time to work with a partner after you’ve spent some time working independently.”

Activity

  • 10–12 minutes: independent work time
  • “Now, you can spend some time working with your partner or continue working independently. If you choose to work independently, still be available to your partner if they need help thinking about their design.”
  • 10–15 minutes: partner or independent work time
  • Monitor for what students use to finish their rooms and encourage them to include critical items such as flooring and plumbing in rooms where it's required.

Student Facing

Choose a room from your tiny house to finish. Use the cost sheet to calculate the cost of finishing the room in your tiny house. Your budget is \$1,000.

item cost
flooring:
 tile
 wood
 carpet
\$5 for each square foot
\$4 for each square foot
\$2 for each square foot
paint \$25 for each gallon (up to 400 square feet)
bathroom plumbing \$379
toilet \$138
bathroom sink and faucet \$112
kitchen plumbing \$253
kitchen sink and faucet \$227
cabinets \$90 for each foot
shelving \$20 for each foot
dishes, cups, forks, spoons, etc. Prices vary. Research or estimate cost.
dishwasher \$389
portable stove \$174
furniture Prices vary. Research or estimate cost.
compact washer/dryer combination \$225
bed \$189

Student Response

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Advancing Student Thinking

If students choose too many items and exceed their budget of \$1,000, consider asking:
  • “Tell me about how much you spent on finishing your room?”
  • “How could rounding or estimating help you keep the cost under \$1,000?”

Activity Synthesis

  • Display student work.
  • “Take some time to walk around and see what room your classmates chose to finish and how they finished the room. Write down something that you notice and something that you wonder.”
  • 3–5 minutes: independent work time
  • 1 minute: partner discussion
  • Share responses.

Lesson Synthesis

Lesson Synthesis

“Today, you calculated the cost of finishing one of the rooms in your tiny house.”

“What decisions did you make to finish a room in your tiny house?” (Which room to finish. Which items to include without going over \$1,000. How much or how many of each item to get.)

Cool-down: Find the Cost? (5 minutes)

CCSS Standards


Addressing

Cool-Down

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