Sparklers for New Year's Eve | January 6, 2015

Solve the problem below using a bar model. It's just a little bit harder than the last one, so if you're not sure what to do, look at the post from before. 

Cara and Dylan were given 40 sparklers to share on New Year's Eve. Cara used 17 of the sparklers. Dylan used the rest. How many sparklers did Dylan use? 

It's a New Year! | January 5, 2015

Have you heard of bar models? Let's start at the beginning. 

It's a new year. It's a great time to start learning something new!

Have you ever heard of using bar models to help solve math problems? They're a great tool for visualizing all of the quantities in the problem and how the quantities relate to each other. They help you make sense of the problem so that you know which math operations to use to solve the problem.

In honor of the new year, let's start at the beginning. Then week by week, problem by problem, you'll learn a useful strategy for solving math problems. And I wouldn't be surprised if some of the math - the math that never made sense to you before - all of a sudden starts to make sense. 

Here's your first problem!

Anna and Barry each made a list of new year resolutions. Anna's list had 24 resolutions on it. Barry's list had 17 resolutions. How many resolutions did Anna and Barry list in all?

I'm thinking that there are two parts here, Anna and Barry, and that the two parts are being combined because the question is asking how many resolutions "in all". I'll draw a bar for Anna as one part and a bar for Barry as the other part. My bar for Barry will be a little bit smaller because 17 is smaller than 24. I'll also write my answer statement with a blank for where I'll put my answer.

Anna and Barry listed _____ resolutions in all.

Now I'm thinking that I should put the numbers from the problem into my bar model. I am also going to put a question mark in the model to represent the quantity I am trying to find.

Now I'm remembering that when I know the parts, I can add them to find the whole. That makes sense with my picture, too. If I add 24 + 17 = 41, it makes sense that the question mark is representing 41, a pretty big number compared to 24 and 17. Now I can answer the question. 

Anna and Barry listed    41    resolutions in all.

Aaron and Benga | June 2, 2014

Aaron and Benga have a total of 976 trading cards. Benga has 7 times as many cards as Aaron. How many cards should Benga give Aaron so that Aaron will have 3 times as many cards as Benga?

Solve this problem using a bar model. Take a picture of your solution and mail it to michelle.valdez@kentwoodps.org. Thanks!

Micah and Luis | May 27, 2014

Micah is 32 years old and Luis is 6 years old. How many years will it take until Micah is only 3 times as old as Luis?

Alex and Jim | May 19, 2014

Alex and Jim have equal amounts of money. Each day, Alex spends $5 and Jim spends $3. When Alex has $8 left, Jim has 4 times as much money left as Alex. How much money does each boy have at first?

Books for the Library | May 12, 2014

Ali, Clara, and Shan raised money for new books for the school library. Ali raised 20% more than Clara and $58 more than Shan. Clara raised 1/4 times more than Shan.

a) How much money did they raise altogether?

b) What percent of the total amount of money did Clara raise?

Instruments in the Band Room | May 5, 2014

Part A:

In a music room, the ratio of the number of clarinets to the number of flutes was 3 : 4. After the school bought another 24 flutes, the ratio became 3 : 8. How many clarinets were there in the music room?

Part B:

In a music room, the ratio of trombones to trumpets is 5 : 4. The ratio of trumpets to tubas is 6 : 1. There are 29 of these brass instruments in all. How many trumpets are there?

Here are a couple of the solutions I received:

Keith's Savings | April 28, 2014

One year, Keith's savings was $200. Andrew's savings was 4/5 of Keith's savings. The next year, Andrew increased his savings by 20%. Find the increase in Andrew's savings.

Passengers on the Bus | April 14, 2014

A bus left the bus station with 90% of the seats full. After six stops, a total of 26 passengers got off the bus and 4 passengers boarded the bus. Now, 35% of the seats are full. How many seats are there on the bus?

Driving to Florida | March 31, 2014

Mary is driving to Florida for spring break. On the way, she passes four consecutive mile markers and finds their sum to be 518. Which mile markers does she include in her sum?

  

Pens in the Box | March 24, 2014

Of the pens in a box, 2/7 of them are red. Of the remaining pens, 1/5 are blue and the rest are black. There are 270 more black pens than blue pens. How many red pens are in the box?

Thank you to Mr. Closson's 5th grade class for sharing your solutions!

 Thank you to the teachers who sent in their solutions, too! :)

Patty's Shamrocks | March 17, 2014

Patty the Leprechaun has some shamrocks. The ratio of 3-leaf to 4-leaf shamrocks is 7 to 2. Of all of the leaves, 56 leaves are on 4-leaf shamrocks. How many 3-leaf shamrocks does Patty have?

Here are some of the solutions I received:

Fruit Basket | March 10, 2014

In a basket of apples and oranges, 3/5 of the fruits are apples. After 4/9 of the apples are used to make apple jam, there are 20 apples left. Find the number of oranges in the basket.

Here are some of the solutions sent to me. Thanks!