Mrs. CosentinoThe Million Dollar Project

Name ______

The Million Dollar Project

Congratulations! You have been awarded $1,000,000! The money is yours as long as you follow the guidelines associated with inheriting this money. If you do not use all of the money on the allotted items, the remaining amount will be given to the bank. My advice to you is to come as close to spending $1,000,000 as possible. Also, if you fail to spend the money by the deadline, the bank will inherit all of the money you did not spend, AKA your grade on this project will suffer. The deadline for spending your money and turning in your project is: ______.

Project Guidelines

Here are the items you MUST purchase: (all topics will be explained in detail in the following section)

  1. A college education
  2. A house that cost no more than $300,000
  3. A car or vehicle
  4. One (family) vacation to a place of your choice
  5. Make a charitable donation
  6. ONE item of your choice

Your grand total may not add up to be more than $1,000,000, but again, you want to spend as much of it as possible. This project is designed to help you plan for your future by incorporating math into real life skills to help you make informed decisions. Try to think about the future of your dreams while completing this project.

Enclosed, you will find a tracking sheet that you are expected to use. These sheets should show ALL of the transactions that you make. You will also be expected to write a check for every purchase you make. Be sure that your checks and your transaction sheets are showing the same information.

Once you have collected all of your data for this project, you must find a way to display it. You have the choice of making a poster with all of your information (poster board or a tri-fold) or making a PowerPoint of the material. You will be expected to present your project to the class for a grade.

Project Specifics

  1. Your college education

Pick something that you are interested in studying at college that you would like to make into a career. Find a college of your choice that you wish to attend to achieve your degree. Calculate the cost for ONE year of attending school (credits, room and board, food, etc.) and then multiply that by how many years it will take you to earn your degree. Multiply your ending number by 110% to cover the cost of inflation. You must have a write-up of how you came up with your number and calculations.

  1. A house that is no more than $300,000

Use a realty website (Howard Hanna, Remax, etc.) to find a house that you wish to live in. Set the parameters so that you do not exceed $300,000. Make sure you buy a house in the desired state/area that you wish to live in. You do not need to worry about any taxes or closing costs, just the listing price of the house. Make sure you can explain WHY you picked the house you did.

  1. A car or vehicle

Find a car that is reasonable for the life you are choosing to live as you are only buying one car. Assume that you will be paying the listing price for the one you choose.

  1. One family vacation to a place of your choice

You must plan a trip for at least THREE nights to a location of your choice. You can go anywhere. Your expenses must include your transportation, stay, food, things that you are going to do on your vacation, etc. Everything must be planned so that you can write a check/checks and include it in your expense sheet.

  1. Make a charitable donation

Your donation must be to an official organization. This means you cannot give yourself or your friend a check and call it charity. Research an organization that has meaning to you.

  1. ONE item of your choice

You can pick ONE additional item to spend your money on. Choose wisely.

Be sure to print pictures for all six topics that you are required to purchase. This is your DREAM future so make sure that the items you are choosing are important to you. You will have time to work on this in class but will also need to work on this at home. I can’t wait to see what you come up with! Happy researching!

Printing at School

Please create a word document of all the pictures that you want to print by both copying and pasting or by using the snipping tool to create a word document. Once you have all of your pictures, THEN you may print. This will make sure that we are not wasting paper or causing the printer to jam. Thanks in advance for your understanding.

Self-Check – This is how you will be graded on your project

Category / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Use of Class Time / Used time well during each class period. Focused on getting the project done. Never distracted others. / Used time well during each class period. Usually focused on getting the project done and never distracted others. / Used some of the time well during each class period. There was some focus on getting the project done but occasionally distracted others. / Did not use class time to focus on the project OR often distracted others.
Required Elements / The poster includes all required elements as well as additional information. / All required elements are included on the poster. / All but 1 of the required elements are included on the poster. / Several required elements were missing.
Graphics - Originality / Several of the graphics used on the poster reflect a exceptional degree of student creativity in their creation and/or display. / One or two of the graphics used on the poster reflect student creativity in their creation and/or display. / The graphics are made by the student, but are based on the designs or ideas of others. / No graphics made by the student are included.
Content - Accuracy / At least 7 accurate facts are displayed on the poster. / 5-6 accurate facts are displayed on the poster. / 3-4 accurate facts are displayed on the poster. / Less than 3 accurate facts are displayed on the poster.
Mechanics / Capitalization and punctuation are correct throughout the poster. / There is 1 error in capitalization or punctuation. / There are 2 errors in capitalization or punctuation. / There are more than 2 errors in capitalization or punctuation.
Preparedness / Student is completely prepared and has obviously rehearsed. / Student seems pretty prepared but might have needed a couple more rehearsals. / The student is somewhat prepared, but it is clear that rehearsal was lacking. / Student does not seem at all prepared to present.
Content / Shows a full understanding of the topic. / Shows a good understanding of the topic. / Shows a good understanding of parts of the topic. / Does not seem to understand the topic very well.
Speaks Clearly / Speaks clearly and distinctly all (100-95%) the time, and mispronounces no words. / Speaks clearly and distinctly all (100-95%) the time, but mispronounces one word. / Speaks clearly and distinctly most ( 94-85%) of the time. Mispronounces no more than one word. / Often mumbles or cannot be understood OR mispronounces more than one word.
Listens to Other Presentations / Listens intently. Does not make distracting noises or movements. / Listens intently but has one distracting noise or movement. / Sometimes does not appear to be listening but is not distracting. / Sometimes does not appear to be listening and has distracting noises or movements.

Your total score______

Multiplied by 2______

Percent on this project______