math problem

[darlene]

Okay, so here is what I think of the following math assignment for dd (who is in gr. 3)......
:banghead: :tearhair:

See what you all think......

"Josh found a bag of coins in the back of his closet. In the bag there were three times as many nickles as pennies, and one half as many dimes as nickles. All together the coins were worth 78 cents. What coins did Josh find?"

I think this is too hard for kids that have just learned their x table and are starting on simple division.

These are problem of the week ?'s, so we aren't supposed to help them with it.

Dd finally gave up and wrote this note....

"This problem is too hard. I can't do it. Can you keep me in at recess to teach me it? Thanks!"

Okay....who has the answer???? :lol: And remember - work with an eight year old mind!

Better yet.....pass it along to your dd/ds to figure out. I know many of us have kids the same age.


:)

[AnnW]

Heck..I can't, but I do dearly love your dd's response!!!!
You should be very proud of her!

This older mind says it can't be solved with the stated problem. If the dimes were 1/3 the number of nickels, I got it. The best way to figure out money problems like this for my kids was to give them a dish of change and have them keep trying. They got some practice with coin value and adding.
These days the money problems they present me with call for more than the spare change I have around. "Mom, are you going to buy me a car...Can we go shopping for some new clothes this weekend...I think I want to go back to Europe this summer..." I'm thinking of reprinting your dd's response and hanging it on the refrigerator. It couldn't hurt! LOL

[darlene]

Now that I have you thoroughly confused.....I made a typo! Should read "3 times as many PENNIES as NICKELS".

Does that make it easier to solve??? :lol:

Sorry about that....but I still think it is too much for grade three.

:)

[TXmom]

I believe there are 6 nickels, 18 pennies, and 3 dimes. Do I pass the 3rd grade? LOL! I printed this out for ds and I'll give it to him tomorrow after school.

[kat]

I could not believe this post! We just got back from graduation and ds says, "Oh by the way, I have math homework". He is struggling so hard in math and every night it takes a hour to wade through all his problems, most of them word problems. He's confused, I'm confused, it's just been a nightmare this year. After sitting on the bleachers for 3 hours I was not looking forward to this. Dh said he'd help ds tonight and I retreated to IB. And what is the first post I read? Aghhh! A math problem.
I know just how you and your dd feel.

[TXmom]

Darlene, what did your dd's teacher say about the math problem today? Ds was able to get the right answer, but he's 9, not 8. And, I'm not sure you could say I didn't help him with it. I asked questions like "OK, how many nickels do you want to start with?", and "So, how many dimes and pennies would you have according to what the problem says?". His original guess was 4 nickels, which was too low, so he was going to go up to 5, but realized he couldn't halve that, so he went up to 6. I would think they would need to have some concept of fractions to work this problem.

Is your dd a young one for the 3rd grade? Ds will be 10 at the end of July.

[darlene]

Right answer Donna!

Her teacher takes them home over the weekend, so we will see on Monday what she will say.

She will be turning 9 mid June, so your ds is almost a year older.

I still think math has certainly advanced since I was in school! :lol:

:)