POWs

3-5
Middle Grades

K-2 Math Problem of the Week

Remember to explain your answers using pictures, numbers or words!

There are 15 cars in a parking lot.

  • The cars are red, yellow, blue, and green.
  • Most of the cars are red.
  • There are more blue cars than green cars.
  • There are fewer yellow cars than any other color.
  • The least number of cars are yellow.

Question:
How many cars are there of each color?

Red____
Blue _____
Green _____
Yellow _____

 

Answer:

Red: 6
Blue: 4
Green: 3
Yellow: 2

March 12, 2007

Ms. Moore's class plans to make a flag with 3 vertical stripes for field day. They will use the school colors yellow, green, and white. How many different ways could the three colors be arranged on the flag? Show your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.

Answer: The colors could be arranged 6 different ways.

March 5, 2007

Kim has 10 pieces of fruit in her basket: 3 bananas, 4 oranges, 2 apples, and 1 pear. If she takes a piece of fruit without looking, which one is she most likely to choose? Show your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.

Answer: Kim will most likely choose an orange.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Problem: Todd's pencil was about 3 large paper clips long. A large paper clip is about 2 inches long. About how long was Todd's pencil? Justify your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.

Answer: Todd's pencil was about 6 inches long.

Monday, February 19, 2007

On the playground, Morgan counted 58 children playing soccer and 42 children playing baseball. How many more children were playing soccer than baseball?
Justify your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.

Answer: 16 more children were playing soccer than baseball.

February 12 , 2007

Mrs. Hart is planning a Valentine's Day party for her class. She needs one Valentine card for each of her 27 students. There are 10 cards in a box. How many boxes of cards should she buy? How many cards will be left over? Justify your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.


Answer: Mrs. Hart will need to buy 3 boxes of cards. She will have 3 extra cards left over.

February 5 , 2007

Problem: Ariel is making friendship bracelets for three of her friends. Ariel needs 18 beads to make one bracelet. She has 43 beads. Does she have enough beads to make all three bracelets? Justify your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.


Answer: No, Ariel does not have enough beads to make all three bracelets. She only has 43 beads and she needs 54 to make all three bracelets. She needs 11 more beads to make all three bracelets.

Monday, January 29, 2006

Peri and Wilson made a snowman. The snowman was made using three large balls of snow. The bottom snowball was 32 inches tall. The middle snowball was 24 inches tall and the top snowball was 16 inches tall. How tall was the snowman when all three balls of snow were stacked on top of each other?
Justify your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.

Answer: The snowman was 72 inches tall or 6 feet tall.

Monday, January 22, 2006

Mia's class is at the zoo. According to the sign at the giraffe exhibit, the mother giraffe is 18 feet tall. A zookeeper told Mia that the baby giraffe is half the height of his mother. How tall is the young giraffe? Explain your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.


Answer: The young giraffe is 9 feet tall.

Monday, January 8, 2006

Noah's school bus has 16 seats. Three students can sit on each seat. If all the seats on the bus are full, how many students are riding the bus?
Explain your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.

Answer: There are 48 students riding the bus.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Christopher has 25 gum drops in a jar. He has 7 red, 8 white, and the rest are green. If he randomly chooses one gum drop from the jar, which color will Christopher probably choose?
Explain your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.

Answer: Christopher will probably choose a green gum drop.

December 11 , 2006

Carmella wants to bake gingerbread men cookies for her class. Her recipe makes a batch of one dozen cookies. Including Carmella, there are 27 students in her class. If the students and her teacher each have one cookie, how many batches of cookies should Carmella make? How many cookies will be left over?
Explain your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.

Answer: Carmella will need to make 3 batches of cookies. She will have 8 cookies left over.

December 04 , 2006

Shreya is helping her mother set the table for their holiday party. She sets 12 plates around the table for her guests. If she places 6 tiny ornaments by each plate, how many ornaments will she need in all?
Explain your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.

Answer: Shreya will need 72 holiday ornaments for her guests.

November 27 , 2006

Marissa, Monica, and Miguel have one book of 15 movie tickets to share. Each movie costs one ticket. How many movies can each child see? Show your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.

Answer: Each child can see 5 movies.

November 13, 2006

In Blake's Bicycle Shop, Hailey counted some bicycles and tricycles. She counted 19. When she counted the wheels, she got a total of 45.
How many bicycles were in the bike shop?
How many tricycles were in the bike shop?
Explain your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.

Answer: There were 12 bicycles and seven tricycles.

November 6, 2006

Four children are lining up for lunch. Their names are Gena, Mike, Candace, and Nick.
Gena is first in line. Mike is last. Candace is behind Gena and in front of Mike.
Who is third in line? Explain your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.

Answer: Nick is third in line.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Use red, yellow, brown, green, and orange Unifix or Snap cubes and make 5 sticks of different lengths. Your sticks should have more than 2 cubes but fewer than 20 cubes.
Now solve these puzzles and tell how many. Use pictures, numbers, or words.

1. The difference between yellow and brown.
2. The sum of orange and brown.
3. The difference between green and orange.
4. The sum of red, brown, and orange.
5. Which is longer: red plus yellow or brown plus green?

Write 5 different puzzles for a friend to solve.

Answers will vary.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Raheem has earned 10 stickers for reading at home each evening. He can trade the stickers for items in the class store.
What can Raheem get with his 10 stickers?

Show your answers using pictures, numbers, or words.

1 sticker - bookmark
2 stickers - eraser
3 stickers - pencil
4 stickers - notepad
5 stickers - gel pen

Answers will vary based on the different number combinations with the sum of 10.

October 16, 2006

Problem: Karina and Jonathan are at the fair. They have ten more minutes before they have to leave. They have three tickets each to ride three rides each. What three rides could they take before they have to leave?

Roller Coaster: 6 minutes
Ferris Wheel: 2 minutes
Bumper Cars: 5 minutes
Swing: 1 minute
Tea Cups: 4 minutes
Merry-Go-Round: 3 minutes

Answers will vary based on the number combinations for the sum of 10.

October 9 , 2006

Problem: Rishi is 7 years old. Matt is 2 years older than Rishi. Jasmine is 3 years older than Matt.
How old is Matt? How old is Jasmine?
Explain your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.

Answer: Matt is 9 years old and Jasmine is 12 years old.


October 2 , 2006

Problem: Isabella is at the zoo. She sees 14 legs. How many parrots? She sees 4 giraffes. How many legs? Then she sees 8 legs, how many elephants? If she sees 6 zebras, how many legs? Explain your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.

Answer: Isabella sees 7 parrots. She sees 16 legs on the giraffes. She sees 2 elephants and 24 legs on the zebras.

September 25, 2006

Problem: What are the next three numbers in this pattern? 3, 8, 13, 18, 23, _____, _____, _____
Answer: 28, 33, 38

What is the pattern?
Answer: Add 5

What would the tenth number be in this pattern?
Answer: 48

September 18, 2006

PROBLEM: Dequan has two puppies. He called the puppies over to give them a treat. He had 10 treats to share equally with the puppies. How many treats did each puppy get? Explain how you got your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.

Answer: Each puppy got 5 treats.

September 11, 2006

PROBLEM:   Caleb has 3 peaches. His mother gives him 4 more peaches. He eats 2 of the peaches. How many peaches does Caleb have left?

ANSWER:  Caleb has 5 peaches left.
August 28, 2006

Rishi is 7 years old. Matt is 2 years older than Rishi. Jasmine is 3 years older than Matt.
How old is Matt? How old is Jasmine?
Explain your answer using pictures, numbers, or words.


AB Gibson Center   |   322 South Main Street   |    Laurinburg NC 28352    |     910-276-1138   |   fax: 910-277-4304