Problems of the Day

  • Brian had seventeen cookies. He ate two, gave three to Christina, dropped four (which Molly, the dog, gobbled up immediately!), and gave three to Mrs. McClerren. How many cookies does he have left?
  • Dylan poured punch at the party. There are twenty-five people in Dylan’s class. He gave each person 100 ml of punch. How many liters of punch did the class need for the party?
  • Madison blew up nineteen balloons. Seven were green, six were blue, and the rest were yellow. How many balloons were lemon-colored? How many were orange?
  • Timothy steps into the elevator on the second floor. He goes up twelve floors, down five floors, up nine floors, and down three floors. He steps out of the elevator. At which floor did Timothy get off the elevator?
  • Heather says “I have two numbers in mind. When I subtract the smaller from the larger, the difference is seven. When I multiply the two numbers, the product is eighteen? What are my two numbers?
  • Adam earns $2.50 an hour for cleaning the teacher’s erasers. He can clean 42 erasers in an hour. How many erasers would he have to clean to earn $10.00? How many hours would it take?
  • Shelby had fifteen lollipops. Three are cherry, five are grape, two are orange, and the rest are lemon. How many are yellow? What is Shelby’s favorite flavor?
  • There are pictures of dogs in the overlapping circles on the wall of an old cave. There are twenty dogs in circle A and nineteen dogs in circle B. Nine of the dogs are in both circles, A and B. How many dogs are in the circles altogether?
  • Solve these problems:

612 480 520

- 184 - 291 - 247

  • There are cats and goats swimming in Nathan’s pool. There are ten animals in the pool. There are six more cats than goats. How many cats are in the pool? How many goats are in the pool?
  • Anna had fifteen jellybeans. She ate 2/3 of her jellybeans. How many jellybeans did she eat?
  • Richard paid a sale price of $4.99 for a jacket. The regular price of the jacket was $5.00. How much did he save?
  • Mary has two cousins. The sum of their ages is 21. One cousin is three years older than the other. Mrs. McClerren guessed that the ages were 7 and 14. Was her answer correct? Explain why or why not.
  • In the Sacramento Zoo, the giraffe weighs 295 pounds. The elephant weighs 518 pounds more than the giraffe. The rhinoceros weighs 307 pounds more than the hippopotamus. The hippopotamus weighs 496 pounds less than the elephant. How much does each animal weigh?
  • Sean’s dogs and pet mice are swimming in the pool. There are fifteen animals in the pool. How many dogs are in the pool? How many mice are in the pool?
  • Allison is in line to buy a candy bar. There are three people in front of her and twice a many people behind her. Including Allison, how many people are in line? (Draw a picture!)
  • Charles can dry three dishes in one minute. How many minutes will it take him to dry twelve dishes?
  • Sarah started her chores at 4:15 p.m. and finished them at 6:23 p.m. Patrick started his chores at 5:35 p.m. and finished them at 6:31 p.m. Mrs. McClerren said Patrick worked longer than Sarah. Could she be right? Explain your answer.
  • Laura saw nineteen dogs playing at the park. There were two more brown dogs than black dogs. There were six fewer white dogs than brown dogs. How many dogs of each color were there?
  • Andrea brought seventy-five Valentine candies to school. If there are twenty-eight students in her class, how many candies can each student have? Will there be any left over?
  • A treasure was hidden under the cellar stairs of the old Grimes’ house. When the house was torn down, six bags of coins and five bags of bills were discovered under each stair. If 121 bags of money were found under the steps, how many bags were filled with coins and how many were filled with bills? How many stairs had there been?
  • Luis gave sixty-five jellybeans each to Jeremy and Olivia. He gave seventy-five jellybeans each to Mrs. McClerren and Stephen. How many jellybeans did he give away? How many does he have left?
  • How nay different ways can you put seven marbles in two cans?
  • Erin wants to buy a game that costs $20.25. She is earning money by shoveling snow. She gets $2.25 an hour for her work. How many hours will she have to work to earn the money she needs?
  • Mark has three and a half dozen candy bars. He told Haley that he has thirty-six candy bars. Is he right?
  • Mr. Wilder is taller than Ms. White. Mr. Singer is shorter than Ms. White. Ms. Jackson is taller than Ms. White, but she is not the tallest teacher. Put all of these teachers in order according to their height.
  • Abigail saw the same number of pigs and chickens at the farm. She counted twelve legs. How many were pigs and how many were chickens?
  • Jesse was in line at the show. Eleven people were in the line with him. If Jesse was third from the last in line, how far from the front was he?
  • Last summer the circus came to Waterford. Two horses led the parade. On each horse was a girl carrying a bird on one are and a dog on the other arm. How many legs would you have seen in that part of the parade? (Draw a picture!)
  • How many total wheels are there on four vans, two bikes, three tricycles, eight cars, and three unicycles?