VO: Abi Measure loves to play the guitar but her old one won’t keep in tune. She’s had it since she was little. One day, she sees the guitar of her dreams. A Clapton Über-Pluck. Pretty cool. If only she had that guitar, she could play like a rock goddess. The only problem is, a Clapton Über-Pluck costs £300. Time to raid the piggy bank, but Abi has never been that good at saving. That’s not enough to buy a plectrum, let alone that guitar.
Abi Measure: Mum!
Mum Measure: What's the matter love. Wooh, look at that, gorgeous isn't that, bet you want one of those don't you. Uhum. Fantastic. What you're asking me for it.
Abi Measure: Please!
Mum Measure: £300 pounds!
Abi Measure: Pay you back.
Mum Measure: You'll pay me ba…? Hang on. I've got a good idea, you can do some chores around the house. There you go and I'll go and have a nice cup of tea. There you go love.
VO: For the next few months, Abi is a very busy girl. Once a week she vacuums the landing and stairs – for that she gets paid one pound fifty.
Mum Measure: Very good, well done. One pound, fifty.
VO: For cleaning the bathroom once a week…
Abi Measure: Money please.
VO: …she gets two pounds.
Mum Measure: One pound. Two pounds.
VO: She gets a pound fifty a week for cleaning out the guinea pig, the gerbils and the hamster. Add to this her four pounds a week pocket money, and six pounds a week from a neighbour for baby sitting. Abi saves every penny she gets. Her brother Ethan puts an armed guard around her room, you can never be too sure when there are robbers about.
One day Abi can wait no longer. It’s time to count the money and she thinks she’s got enough. Look at all that cash! Can you help her figure out if she’s got enough to buy that guitar?
Abi earned one pound fifty for vacuuming the stairs, two pounds for cleaning the bathroom, one pound fifty for cleaning out the pets, four pounds pocket money and six pounds for babysitting.
How much did she earn each week?
Abi saved 193 pound coins, 9 five pound notes, 88 fifty pence pieces, and a jar of 20p coins.
Add up how much money she has, not counting the jar of 20 pence pieces.
Abi weighs the 20 pence coins and they come to 0.855 Kg. Each 20 pence coin weighs 5 grams. How much money in 20 pence pieces does Abi have? Has she saved enough money to buy that new guitar?
Video summary
Abi needs a new guitar but it costs £300. She must do chores around the house for the next few months to earn enough to buy it.
She gets paid £1.50 for vacuuming the stairs once a week, while cleaning the bathroom earns her £2.
£1.50 is earned for cleaning out the pets, added to her £4 a week pocket money and £6 from a neighbour for babysitting.
After a few months of saving up, will she have enough to buy her guitar?
This is from the series: Let's Do Maths.
Teacher Notes
This clip could be used for introducing problems involving money and opportunities for children to use written or calculator methods to find totals.
This multi-step problem has the real life context of saving up for something and earning weekly money to buy it.
There are several questions at the end.
Pupils can expand on these to make up other questions of their own and investigate the weight of coinage.
This clip will be relevant for teaching Maths at KS2 in England and Wales, Second Level in Scotland and KS1 and KS2 in Northern Ireland.
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