How Do You Find a Percent of a Number?

Are your students wondering how to calculate the percent of a quantity? They may be practicing computational problems such as:

• What is 25% of 320?
• What is 10% of 80?

You can use a few methods when teaching your students how to calculate percentage problems such as these. Students can create a fraction by placing the percentage over 100 and multiplying it by the whole number. Additionally, students can convert the percentage into a decimal and multiply it by the whole number. Regardless of the method your students use, extra practice with this skill will help make percentage calculations a breeze! 

Teach Starter has created a match-up activity for your students to practice finding the percent of a quantity. Prior to student use, cut apart 36 task cards. Students must match each equation to the correct corresponding word story and visual model, making 12 sets of 3 matches.

Through this activity, students will show they can calculate the percent of a number and match it with a corresponding visual model (strip diagram).

Tips for Differentiation + Scaffolding 

A team of dedicated, experienced educators created this resource to support your math lessons. 

In addition to individual student work time, use this match-up activity to enhance learning through guided math groups or whole class lessons.

If you have a mixture of above and below-level learners, check out these suggestions for keeping students on track with the concepts: 

🆘 Support Struggling Students

If there are students who need a bit of support, encourage them to first practice problems that involve a percentage that is a multiple of 10 (i.e., 10% of 90, 20% of 50, etc.) Students can then work with more complex problems.

➕ Challenge Fast Finishers

Encourage students who need a bit of a challenge to create a real-life word problem for each matching set.

👯 Find Your Match

Provide each student in your class with a card. Challenge the students to find classmates with the other 2 cards that match theirs, creating a match of 3. Make the activity a race for an extra challenge or ask the students to complete the task in silence!

❓Odd Man Out

Place 3 cards at each station, making sure 2 of the cards represent the same answer, and the 3rd card is different. Student pairs will rotate through each station and identify the correct pair, writing their answers on a separate sheet of paper.  

Plan lessons for all ability levels with our 10 Best Scaffolding Strategies! 

Easily Prepare This Resource for Your Students

Use the dropdown icon on the Download button to choose between the color PDF, black and white PDF, or editable Google Slides version of this resource. A recording sheet and answer key are also included with this download. 

Print on cardstock for added durability and longevity. Place all pieces in a folder or large envelope for easy access. 

Sustainability Tip: Print a few recording sheets on cardstock and slip them into dry-erase sleeves. Students can record their answers with a whiteboard marker, then erase and reuse them.  

This resource was created by Cassandra Friesen, a teacher in Colorado and Teach Starter Collaborator.

Don’t stop there! We’ve got more activities and resources that cut down on lesson planning time:  

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