Bonus Question: Are You Smarter Than a 6th Grader Question 3

The first quarter of the year has just come to an end.  We have so far completed our units on Fractions and Decimals.  By now,  my students should be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions decimals and mixed numbers without the use of calculators.  We will be moving on and will begin our lesson on Integers (negative numbers) and spend a few weeks covering the rules and operations with integers.  I want to give this warning to parents and students that this unit seems to be one of the most difficult concepts to master in their short math careers thus far.  I will be going slow and giving specific notes for each topic -- adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing- and having the kids practice each as I present them.  I want to ask that you take the time to look over their shoulders and check on their progress as they are doing their homework.  If they are having trouble, please advise them to use their notes and follow the examples.  This will not be a topic they can take lightly in class and think they can 'figure out' on their own at night.  For some, this will be the first time they have ever struggled with a concept and it can get frustrating.  I want to give you all a heads up.  They WILL get it,  some just faster than others.

*******BONUS*******

Here is a little problem you can work on during the days off.  I will award 5 bonus quiz points for the next quarter to anyone who can email me or hand me the correct answer by class time Monday.  Good luck, this one took me a few tries to come up with the correct answer.

COIN PROBLEM

The fictitious country of Nowhere mints its own coins in three denominations (think nickles, dimes and pennies for example).  The fictitious unit of money is called the KIP and each of the 3 coins has a different KIP value.  It is a fact that it takes 3 coins to make 20 KIPS, 3 coins to make 23 KIPS and 3 coins to make 29 KIPS.  Your challenge is to tell me the value of each of the 3 coins.  In other words, for example, 1 coin may be worth 17 KIPS, another worth 2 KIPS and the 3rd coin worth 3 KIPS.  If you use all 3 coins (you don't have to use all 3 coins though) you get 20 KIPS (17 + 2 + 3), but you can not get all three totals (20, 23, and 29) using these 3 coins.  You MAY use the same coin more than once when choosing 3 coins -- you can choose to use the 17 KIP coin and two 3 KIP coins to make a total of 23 KIPS (17 + 3 + 3) or you can choose three 17 KIP coins to give you a total of 51 KIPS (17 + 17 + 17).  In other words, you can use any coin more than once and you do NOT have to use all 3 different coins each time you try to get the totals (20, 23, 29).  You must use 3 coins each time and the totals have to be 20, 23 and 29.  See if you can find the values for each of the 3 coins.

this is not a play on words, it is a math logic problem.

Bonus Question: Are You Smarter Than a 6th Grader #2

Here is a little problem that you can work on over the weekend and email or turn in to me by class time on Monday, October 12.    5 points will be added to quiz grades for correct answer.  No advanced math is required for this problem, it can even be done without algebra.

TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM

2 towns, Alpha and Beta are exactly 425 miles apart.  To get directly from Alpha to Beta one can ride a bus, but to get directly from Beta to Alpha, one has to ride on a train.  If the bus leaves Alpha at 7am and travels at a constant speed of 57 miles per hour toward Beta, and at 8am the train leaves Beta and travels at a constant speed of 90 miles per hour toward Alpha,  HOW FAR APART ARE THE VEHICLES EXACTLY 20 MINUTES BEFORE THEY PASS EACH OTHER?  Assume that both vehicles are traveling at constant speeds and in straight paths, and will not run into each other, but pass each other without incident.  

This is not a play on words problem... its a math logic problem.

Today in class, I posted this problem on the board for the kids to try when they finished their quiz.  They asked if I would put it on the blog so they can try it.  I can not offer bonus points for this one since it is a famous logic puzzle and the answer can easily be found on the internet with a quick google search.  So give it a try and see if you are one of the 2 percenters.

***disclosure***  This is the original puzzle and it is obviously foreign and dated, I know that cigarettes are not pc and I'm certainly not promoting them.  This is a logic puzzle, so don't look for a play on words.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Albert Einstein once posed a brain teaser that he predicted only 2% of the worlds population would be able to solve.

FACTS:
1. There are 5 houses in 5 different colours.
2. In each house lives a person with a different nationality.
3. These 5 owners drink a certain beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigarette and keep a certain pet.
4. No owners have the same pet, brand of cigaratte, or drink.

CLUES:
1. The Brit lives in a red house
2. The Swede keeps a dog
3. The Dane drinks tea
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The green house owner drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall keeps birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the house right in the center drinks milk
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill
12. The owner who smokes Camel drinks beer
13. The German smokes Marlborough.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house
15. The man who smokes Blend has a neighbour who drinks water.
The question is, who keeps the fish? 

***BONUS*** Are You Smarter than a 6th Grader?--- problem 1

Here is a bonus question to work on over the long weekend.  In order to get 5 BONUS points on your next quiz, you must submit to me in writing (or email) a detailed answer to the following problem, by MONDAY, September 28.  Parents, you are encouraged to work with your child on these problems.  This is more of a logic problem than a math problem, so no advanced math is necessary.  Please email or turn in before class begins on Monday.

CAN YOU MAKE 16 GALLONS?

You have 2 containers.  One container holds exactly 20 gallons of liquid and the other holds exactly 12 gallons of liquid.  How can you measure out EXACTLY 16 gallons of liquid using ONLY these 2 containers.  You may fill the containers more than once and you can empty the containers as needed.  You may not use any other materials.  This is NOT a trick question, nor a play on word question.  

Good luck!

Quiz 1 and 2 with answer keys

Here are copies of Quiz 1, Re-Quiz 1 and Quiz 2 with ANSWER keys.  For Clarification, quizzes/tests labeled with a "+" are my first block kids and those without the "+"  are my 3rd and 4th block classes.

Quiz 1 and 1+

Re-Quiz 1 and 1+

Quiz 2 and 2+

They are in pdf format and you can print out the blank copies to use for studying.

Practice Worksheets

Here is a link to the website for the program that I use to make my custom worksheets the kids will use for homework many times.  You can click on any of the links in the yellow sections in the middle of the pages and they will take you to pages that contain worksheets with ANSWERS (at the bottom) that you can download or print out.

PRACTICE WORKSHEETS

TOPICS WE HAVE COVERED SO FAR:
--adding and subtracting decimals
--multiplying decimals
--divisibility and factors
--everything under the heading BASICS

Khan Academy Videos

Here is a link to the website for Khan Academy.  If you have not seen it before, please be sure to play around on that sight and see all that they have to offer.  I am linking to the page for 6th grade Arithmetic Operations,  on which you will find links for instructional VIDEOS for all decimal operations.  If you play around, you will see that there are videos for nearly every topic we will cover in class this year.  This is your one stop shop for math videos.

Khan Academy Videos Link

WELCOME

Hello,

Welcome to my Blog page for 6th grade math for the 2015-2016 school year.  By now, you should have received a welcome letter from me that I gave out the first day of school and went over with each and every class.  In that letter, I listed some avenues for success in math class for this year.  Some of the highlights were to be prepared every day with all materials ready to go (including homework) and have a good attitude when I begin class.  Since we have over 80 minutes of class this year, it is my plan to give each class some time (hopefully about 15-20 minutes) to begin their homework before leaving for the day.  In some cases, they may be able to complete the assignment, if not, then your child is expected to have it completed by the start of the next class.  I grade homework on an effort basis, and I expect to see work or answers for every problem I assign.  I do not grade homework for a numerical grade, I am just checking to see if it has been completed.  I want to see all scrap work, so they are required to show me that as well.  

I WILL NOT  be posting daily homework on this blog page, and do not intend to do so this year.  I clearly define what is expected for homework in class before I dismiss each class.  Each child was given a handbook with a daily planner in it which should be used to write down daily assignments for each class.  In addition, I will be available via email (jmatisoff@neusecharterschool.org) until 10pm each night to answer questions about the homework.  I do not usually bring home extra copies so please do not ask me to send you a copy if you left it in class.

Because of the flexibility I have with longer class times and leveled classes, each of my 3 classes may be on a different topic and have different assignments to complete each day.  That is also the reason that I am not able to give out homework weeks (or even too many days) in advance.  My homework is based on what lessons we cover in class and how much practice I feel is necessary to master the concepts.  I do not give homework for the sake of giving homework, it is to practice a skill or skills we learned in class that day.  Most times, the homework is just like the practice problems I did on the board in class.  For most lessons, I do multiple examples, complete with all steps worked out, and expect all examples to be copied into the students notebook.   That way, parents can see what we are working on in class and the examples can be used to help solve additional problems I have assigned.

One thing that I stress every day is the importance of knowing the relevant vocabulary to the lesson we are covering.  I put vocabulary words on the board nearly every day and expect the kids to learn them just as if it were for language arts class.  In a lot of cases, just knowing the key vocabulary in a question will give you direction to solving the problem.

Lastly, as I have stated many times, knowing the basic skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of numbers 1 through 12 will be extremely beneficial to being successful in math class this year.  I will be posting useful webpages and websites that I find that may be helpful in your students mastering these basic concepts, as well as pages that offer videos that demonstrate the same concepts we cover in class.  Please check back here often to see what is new, and please feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions or concerns or have found some useful websites that you would like me to share.

Again, welcome to 6th grade and I hope it will be a very pleasant and enriching year for everyone.

Mr. Matisoff