Lesson 5.12, one day (day 132). Slides 1 to 12, labeled Day 1, are the lesson. Slides 13 to 18, labeled Day 2, are the eight-item poster task. The lesson names that task as the grade 8 stretch and the extension for a longer period; it is not a second class day. All prices to be refreshed before teaching.
Day 1. Do now
- Four sweatshirts are on the table.
- Write what you think each one cost. A, B, C, D.
- Then circle the one you would buy.
- Two minutes.
Teacher notes
take four guesses out loud and write the spread on the board. Then the hook: one of these cost four dollars more than another and will last three times as long, and nobody can tell which from here.
Image: four hooded sweatshirts hanging in a row with blank price tags.
Day 1. Four kinds of places
- Discount store
- Mall brand store
- Secondhand shop
- Online marketplace
- Same item. Four prices. Four different levels of quality.
Teacher notes
Image: four small icons in a row: a big-box aisle, a mall storefront, a thrift rack, a phone screen with a listing.
Day 1. Discount store and mall brand
- Discount store. Lowest tag price. Available today. Easy free returns.
- Risk: thinner fabric, fewer stitches per inch, single-needle seams, narrow size range.
- Mall brand. Better construction. Wider sizes. Free returns. You can try it on.
- Risk: you pay for the brand and the store, so the same quality costs more.
Day 1. Secondhand shop
- Best quality for the price. Often heavier fabric than a new discount item.
- Keeps a garment in use instead of in a landfill.
- You can inspect it in your hands before you pay.
- Risk: one size only. Sold as-is. No returns. May have a flaw or hidden wear.
- Risk: it will not be there tomorrow.
Teacher notes
Image: a rack of used sweatshirts with handwritten price tags.
Day 1. Online marketplace
- Widest choice. Often the lowest listed price.
- Risk: you cannot touch it.
- Risk: shipping and returns cost money.
- Risk: sizing is a guess from a chart.
- Risk: you wait. Sometimes weeks.
Teacher notes
hold up the shipping bag here but do not open it yet. Step 3 opens it.
Day 1. Quality check 1: seam strength
- Hold the fabric on both sides of a seam.
- Pull gently sideways.
- Look for gaps, loose thread, or the seam opening.
- Good: nothing moves, no thread shows.
Teacher notes
demonstrate on garment A for ten seconds. Pull gently. Say "gently" twice.
Image: two hands pulling a seam apart slightly, close up, with a small gap visible.
Day 1. Quality check 2: fabric weight
- Hold it up to the light against a white card.
- Heavier fabric blocks more light.
- Feel the weight in your hand.
- Good: for a sweatshirt, about 9 ounces or more is heavy.
Teacher notes
Image: a flashlight behind a thin fleece, light coming through, next to a heavy fleece blocking it.
Day 1. Quality check 3: stitch density
- Lay the ruler on a seam. Count the stitches in one inch.
- 8 per inch is low.
- 10 to 12 per inch holds.
- Count the seam that holds the garment together, not the decorative topstitching.
Teacher notes
this is the mistake every class makes. Show both seams on garment A and name the difference before the rotation starts.
Image: a ruler laid along a seam with individual stitches visible.
Day 1. Quality check 4: read the label
- Fiber content, with percentages
- Care instructions
- Country of manufacture
- Is there a brand label at all?
- No percentages means you do not know what you are buying.
Teacher notes
Image: a garment care label with fiber percentages and wash symbols.
Day 1. The hidden costs of buying online
- Listed price $9.99
- Plus shipping $______
- Plus sales tax $______
- What you actually paid $______
- If it does not fit: return shipping $______
- Days you waited: ______
- The five hidden costs: shipping, return shipping, a restocking or return fee, sizing risk, time.
Teacher notes
pass the shipping bag and the packing slip. Build the real total cost (the landed cost) on the board from the real slip. Ask: the listing said $9.99. What did it cost to get one that fits?
Day 1. The reveal
- Garment A: $______ , ______________________
- Garment B: $______ , ______________________
- Garment C: $______ , ______________________
- Garment D: $______ , ______________________
- Compare to the guesses on the board.
- Then: the class buyer card, bottom of handout page 2. Underline her three limits: money, time, size.
- Pick one garment for her and write the five-line defense.
Teacher notes
Ask which garment scored best on stitch density and whether that matched its price. Usually it did not. Then read the buyer card out loud and set the individual task; the five labeled lines are on the handout under the card.
Day 1. Exit card
- 3 quality checks you can now run on a garment
- 2 hidden costs of buying clothes online
- 1 question you still have about where to buy clothes
Teacher notes
two students read one line. Sort the cards. A big "needs more" pile means Lesson 5.13 opens with 90 seconds on stitch density.
Day 2. Do now
- You counted stitches per inch.
- Which of the four sweatshirts would you buy for a little cousin who is about to grow two inches? Why?
- One sentence.
Teacher notes
take two answers. Hook: today the buyer is not you. You get a buyer, eight items, and ten minutes to make a recommendation you can defend.
Day 2. The task and the rules
- Your station gets one buyer card and one spec sheet of eight items.
- Your recommendation must name:
- one item, and the total your buyer pays including shipping and tax
- two quality checks that support the choice
- one hidden cost you accepted or avoided
- the second-best item, and why it lost
- Everybody at the station signs the poster.
Teacher notes
have them read the buyer card out loud at the station and underline the three limits: money, time, size.
Day 2. The poster template
- OUR BUYER IS:
- WE RECOMMEND ITEM:
- TOTAL THE BUYER PAYS: $______
- QUALITY REASON 1:
- QUALITY REASON 2:
- ONE HIDDEN COST WE ACCEPTED OR AVOIDED:
- SECOND BEST, AND WHY IT LOST:
Day 2. Sentence frames
- We recommend item ___ for ___ because ___.
- The total is $___ , under the buyer's limit of $___ .
- Item ___ has ___ stitches per inch and ___ seams, which means ___.
- We avoided the hidden cost of ___ by ___.
- Item ___ lost because ___.
Day 2. Defend it
- 90 seconds to present.
- 90 seconds of questions from the other two stations, plus one from me.
- Write your questions for the other stations before they present.
- My question may be the hard one.
Teacher notes
ask at least one station: your buyer needs it Monday, your item ships in 12 to 20 days, answer that.
Day 2. Closure
- The item I recommended was ______.
- If my buyer had twice the money, I would have said ______ instead, because ______.
- Turn in the handout and the poster.
Teacher notes
three students read. These lines come back out in Lesson 5.14 Day 2, where each student builds a comparison alone.