Family Math #3
Where’s Waldo
Waldo is in the fifth grade. In Waldo’s class, everyone has assigned seats, so they sit in the same chair every day, and there are the same number of kids in every row. One day a substitute teacher was filling in for Waldo’s regular teacher. He asked where waldo was sitting. Waldo was suffering from a horrible sore throat and was unable to answer, so several of his classmates answered for him.
Maria said, “Waldo sits in the third row.”
Alfred said, “ Waldo sits in the fourth row from the back.”
Kira said, “Waldo sits in the second seat from the right.”
Matteo said, “Waldo sits in the fourth seat from the left.”
How many students are in the class?
The Questions:
1. How many students are in the fifth grade class?
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There are 30 students in the fifth grade class.
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2. Which family member did you work with? Is there a reason why you chose that family member?
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I worked with my Mom, because she loves math and my Dad could not do it when I was ready.
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3. How did you go about solving the problem? In other words, what did you try first? What did you try next? Did you use coins to help you? Who offered suggestions? (This should be at least three sentences long and include your process)
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My Mom and I decided to draw a classroom and follow the puzzle clues. We started by making rows and numbering them from the front to the back. Then we counted the seats based on the clues in the puzzle. Then we filled in the seats to make all the rows with equal number of students. Then we multiplied the seats by the rows and came up with the number 30, or 6 rows with 5 seats.
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4. Did you try anything that didn’t work? If so, what was it (be specific)
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No, we were able to answer the question right away, but we did recheck our work.
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5. What did you enjoy most about this process and what did you find to be the most challenging or frustrating (be specific).
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We thought the most challenging were the clues, which were a little confusing, but the thing we enjoyed the most was working together and feeling like we did it right.
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