Unit Rates and Percent

Lesson 2

Math

Unit 2

6th Grade

Lesson 2 of 14

Objective


Define rate and unit rate, and find rates from situations involving ratios.

Common Core Standards


Core Standards

  • 6.RP.A.2 — Understand the concept of a unit rate a/b associated with a ratio a:b with b ≠ 0, and use rate language in the context of a ratio relationship. Expectations for unit rates in this grade are limited to non-complex fractions. For example, "This recipe has a ratio of 3 cups of flour to 4 cups of sugar, so there is 3/4 cup of flour for each cup of sugar." "We paid $75 for 15 hamburgers, which is a rate of $5 per hamburger."
  • 6.RP.A.3.B — Solve unit rate problems including those involving unit pricing and constant speed. For example, if it took 7 hours to mow 4 lawns, then at that rate, how many lawns could be mowed in 35 hours? At what rate were lawns being mowed?

Foundational Standards

  • 5.NF.B.3
  • 6.RP.A.1

Criteria for Success


  1. Define and understand a rate, associated with a ratio a:b, as a/b units of the first quantity per 1 unit of the second quantity. For example, if a person walks 6 miles in 2 hours, the person is traveling at a rate of 3 miles per hour. 
  2. Define and understand a unit rate as the numerical part of a rate. For example, in the rate of 3 miles per hour, the 3 represents the unit rate. 
  3. Identify the two unit rates for a ratio a:b as a/b and b/a.
  4. Know that equivalent ratios have the same unit rates, and that the unit rate represents the multiplicative factor across columns in a ratio table.

Tips for Teachers


Lesson Materials

  • Calculators (1 per student) — See note from lesson 1.
Fishtank Plus

Unlock features to optimize your prep time, plan engaging lessons, and monitor student progress.

Anchor Problems

25-30 minutes


Problem 1

Hugh drove on the highway at a constant rate. He traveled 204 miles in 3 hours. How far did Hugh travel in 1 hour? At what rate was he traveling? 

Guiding Questions

Create a free account or sign in to access the Guiding Questions for this Anchor Problem.

Student Response

Upgrade to Fishtank Plus to view Sample Response.

Problem 2

Hippos sometimes get to eat pumpkins as a special treat.

a.   If 3 hippos eat 5 pumpkins, how many pumpkins per hippo is that?

b.   If there are 9 hippos, how many pumpkins do you need?

c.   If 3 hippos eat 5 pumpkins, how many hippos per pumpkin is that?

d.   If you have 30 pumpkins, how many hippos can you feed?

Guiding Questions

Create a free account or sign in to access the Guiding Questions for this Anchor Problem.

Student Response

Upgrade to Fishtank Plus to view Sample Response.

References

Illustrative Mathematics Hippos Love Pumpkins

Hippos Love Pumpkins, accessed on July 25, 2017, 1:30 p.m., is licensed by Illustrative Mathematics under either the CC BY 4.0 or CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. For further information, contact Illustrative Mathematics.

Modified by Fishtank Learning, Inc.

Problem 3

A florist sells a bundle of 12 sunflowers for $9. You can also buy single sunflowers at the same rate. Fill in the table below.

Number of sunflowers Cost ($) Unit rate ($ per sunflower)
2    
4    
6    
8    
10    
12    

Do equivalent ratios have the same unit rate? Explain how you know.

Guiding Questions

Create a free account or sign in to access the Guiding Questions for this Anchor Problem.

Student Response

Upgrade to Fishtank Plus to view Sample Response.

Problem Set

15-20 minutes


Give your students more opportunities to practice the skills in this lesson with a downloadable problem set aligned to the daily objective.

Target Task

5-10 minutes


A candy store sells small pieces of candy, 12 pieces for $4.

a.   How many pieces can you buy per dollar?

b.   What is the cost per piece of candy?

Student Response

Upgrade to Fishtank Plus to view Sample Response.

Additional Practice


The following resources include problems and activities aligned to the objective of the lesson that can be used for additional practice or to create your own problem set.

  • Include problems where students are given a ratio of two quantities and determine a rate (or both rates). For example, 3 pounds of long-grain rice costs $13.50. What is the rate in dollars per pound? What is the rate in pounds per dollar? 

Next

Find unit rates and use them to solve problems.

Lesson 3
icon/arrow/right/large

Lesson Map

A7CB09C2-D12F-4F55-80DB-37298FF0A765

Topic A: Defining Rate & Solving Rate Problems

Topic B: Measurement Unit Conversions

Topic C: Percent

Request a Demo

See all of the features of Fishtank in action and begin the conversation about adoption.

Learn more about Fishtank Learning School Adoption.

Contact Information

School Information

What courses are you interested in?

ELA

Math

Are you interested in onboarding professional learning for your teachers and instructional leaders?

Yes

No

Any other information you would like to provide about your school?

We Handle Materials So You Can Focus on Students

We Handle Materials So You Can Focus on Students

We've got you covered with rigorous, relevant, and adaptable math lesson plans for free