How to Teach Ratios and Rates in 7th Grade: a Free Digital Activity

7th grade math

Want the free Ratios and Rates activity? Click here

If you are working out how to teach ratios and rates in 7th grade, here is the activity I use with my own students, and it is free: a self-checking Google Sheets activity with 10 word problems, a printable recording sheet and an answer key.

Below is how I run it in one class period, step by step. Type your email on the downloads page and both files open right away.

How to teach ratios and rates: the two ideas first

A ratio compares two amounts. In a class of 24 students with 14 boys and 10 girls, the ratio of girls to boys is 10 to 14, which students write as a fraction in simplest form. The order matters: boys to girls is a different ratio, and so is girls to the whole class. The activity asks all three about that one class.

A rate compares two different kinds of amounts, like dollars and gallons. A unit rate is the rate for one: if 2 gallons of orange juice cost $4.50, divide the price by the gallons to get the price of one gallon. Unit rates are how a shopper finds the best buy, and that is where the activity ends.

The Ratios and Rates self-checking activity for Google, digital and printable, for 7th grade

The lesson at a glance

Grade: 7th grade
Standard: Common Core 7.RP.A.1: compute unit rates associated with ratios of fractions, including ratios of lengths, areas and other quantities measured in like or different units
Standard: Common Core 6.RP.A.1: understand the concept of a ratio and use ratio language to describe a ratio relationship between two quantities
Standard: Common Core 6.RP.A.2: understand the concept of a unit rate a/b associated with a ratio a:b with b ≠ 0, and use rate language in the context of a ratio relationship
Time: one class period
You need: a Google account for you and your students, the recording sheet, one per student (or scratch paper or whiteboards), the answer key
Students will be able to: write a ratio as a fraction in simplest form, find a unit rate, and use unit rates to find the best buy

Get the free activity and answer key

Before you teach

The activity lives in a Google Sheet. The directions page in the free files has the link: click it, choose Make a Copy, and save the copy to your Google Drive so you can find it later.

Print the recording sheet, one per student, or have students work on scratch paper or whiteboards.
Neither you nor your students need to know Google Sheets first.
Give each student their own copy, so nobody edits your original.

Assign it: one copy of the Sheet for each student

In Google Classroom it takes a minute. No Google Classroom works too: use the Sheet's Send button to email it, or copy its link and share it somewhere your students sign in, like their school email.

In Google Classroom, click Classwork, then Create, then Assignment.
Name it Ratios and Rates, add instructions if you want, and set a due date.
Click Add, choose Google Drive, and pick your copy of the Sheet.
In the dropdown, choose Make a copy for each student.
Click Assign.

The recording sheet: 10 ratio and rate word problems

Students solve on the recording sheet, in any order. Problems 1 and 2 write a ratio as a fraction in simplest form (bus riders, school lunch). Problems 3 and 4 find a unit rate (orange juice, a bag of dog food). Problems 5 to 7 use one class of 24 students, and 8 and 9 one basketball season, so students write different ratios from the same numbers. Problem 10 asks which pizza is the best bargain.

The Ratios and Rates recording sheet with 10 ratio and rate word problems

Spellcheck Scrambler: how the ratio and rate activity checks itself

Students type each final answer into the Sheet. A correct answer unlocks a set of scrambled letters, and students unscramble them into a mystery word. A wrong answer turns red, so the student goes back to the problem or asks you for help. They can race each other to see who unscrambles the most words.

Solve the questions in any order on the worksheet, scratch paper or a whiteboard.
Type the final answer into its cell.
A correct answer reveals a set of scrambled letters.
Unscramble the letters to make the mystery word.
A wrong answer turns red: go back and try it again.

The Spellcheck Scrambler teacher page with the simple student directions

Check the work with the answer key

The answer key has every answer on a copy of the recording sheet, and a page with the three sets of mystery words, all sports: team sports, individual sports, and sports gear and game terms.

Here are the free files for this activity

Type your name and email on the downloads page, and both files open on the next page.

Open the downloads page

This activity is from the 7th grade math activities in my membership

Integer Operations Activity
Multiplying and Dividing Integers Halloween Activity
One-Step Equations Veterans Day Activity
Ratios and Rates Activity
Ratios and Proportions Groundhog's Day Activity
Solving Proportions Fall Activity
Percentages Scavenger Hunt
Simple Interest Scavenger Hunt
Theoretical and Experimental Probability Activity
Volume of Cubes and Rectangular Prisms Activity
7th Grade End of Year Review Jeopardy

See everything in the membership

Questions teachers ask about ratios and rates

What is a unit rate?

A rate for one of something: one gallon, one pound, one slice. Problem 3 in the activity asks it this way: you pay $4.50 for 2 gallons of orange juice, so you divide $4.50 by 2 to get the price of one gallon.

What is the difference between a ratio and a rate?

A ratio compares two amounts, like 10 girls to 14 boys. A rate compares two different kinds of amounts, like dollars to gallons or dollars to pounds. The activity has both kinds.

Do my students need to know Google Sheets?

No. Neither you nor your students need to know Google Sheets to use it. Just give each student their own copy (Google Classroom's Make a copy for each student does it) so nobody edits your original.