MathGrade 6ages 11–12
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A child who can say "ten percent" out loud will still take ten shekels off an 80-shekel shirt, because the number 10 in the question feels like the answer.
Try this lesson freeNo card needed. The first lesson is free.
Download on the App StoreWhat your child learns
- One percent is one part out of a hundred.
- Ten percent is a tenth, so moving the point one place to the left is enough.
- The same percent gives different amounts from different prices, because it is measured out of the price.
- The discount is what comes off. The price to pay is what is left after it.
The mistake most kids make here
Taking off 10 shekels instead of 10 percent.
Try one question
A shirt costs 80 shekels. How much is 10 percent?
10 percent of 80
- 8
- 10
- 70
Answer
8 — That's it. A tenth of 80 is 8.
How Maya teaches it
Your child tells Maya what they did in class. She teaches this topic at her desk, asks questions with tappable answers, and when the answer is wrong she explains why that answer was tempting instead of saying “try again”. She remembers what did not land and comes back to it.
Your child has it when they can: Say how much 10 percent of 80 is.
How to help at home
This mix-up is not about not knowing what percent means — it is about which number in the sentence looks like the one to subtract. Fixing it means slowing down at the word "of".
Pull out a real receipt or a sale sign with a round price, like 80 or 200. Ask: "what's ten percent of this?" before asking what the discount is worth. Ten percent is a tenth, so moving the decimal point one place left gives the answer fast.
When your child takes off 10 (the digit in "10%") instead of a tenth of the price, say: "ten percent isn't the number ten — it's a tenth of this price. A tenth of 80 is 8." Naming the confusion between the label and the amount is more useful than just giving the right number.
A sign they've got it: they compute 10 percent of two different prices and get two different answers, without hesitating — proof the percent is being taken of the price, not lifted whole from the question.
Questions parents ask
- Why does my child subtract 10 instead of 10 percent of the price?
- The digit 10 sits right there in the question, and it is easier to grab than to compute a tenth of a different number. It fades with practice on prices where the answer is obviously not the flat number, like 10 percent of 45.
- What is the fastest way to explain 10 percent?
- Ten percent is a tenth: move the decimal point one place to the left. 10 percent of 80 is 8; of 45 is 4.5. Once that shortcut sticks, other percents (like doubling it for 20 percent) build on it.
- How do I explain that a discount isn't the price to pay?
- Say it as two separate questions: first, how much comes off; second, what's left after it comes off. A shirt at 80 shekels with 10 percent off loses 8 shekels and costs 72 — two numbers, not one.
- How does Maya teach percent of an amount?
- Maya uses real prices and asks the child to find the percent first, separately from the final price, so the two questions never blur into one guess.
No card needed. The first lesson is free.
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