Subscriber Alexis Avis teaches Gifted/Talented classes in Caruthersville schools in Southeast Missouri. She has had her students solving Brain Teasers here – and even entering some of our contests!! She’s a WONDERFUL person, and she and her husband Mike probably know more about corn ‘nubbins’ than anyone on earth! 🙂
Here are Alexis’ notes on her classes’ attempts at the recent Brain Teasers and Mini Challenges:
My 3rd and 4th graders took on BT 15-4 # 1 and 2:
They first did the math on the nail in the tree and added the 1/2 foot growth each year-then decided if you sent the problem , it would be trickier than that. They called 4 different farmers to see if the tree grows from the bottom or the top. Their final decision was based on using a deer stand and climbing a tree with nailed on “rungs”. They decided the height of the rungs doesn’t change year to year. So, they reached consensus that the nail would stay at 5 feet above the ground.
On #2 they figured the bookworm would travel 3 3/4 inches, taking off 2/8 or 1/4 in. for the front and back covers. (As it turns out, this solution fails to remember the orientation of the books, otherwise, good thinking. :-)).
The fifth grade did the mini challenge #3 using the $20 a minute amount. They all came up with 34 days, 17 hours, and 20min to spend 1 million. Cool cause they had calculators and realized they didn’t know what the decimal part of the answer meant on the calculator. One boy did it “longhand” and his remainder was clear. They figured out how to interpret the calculator remainder and came a long way during the lesson. Thanks.
Alexis
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