HIT: Children's Literature and Math Contest

[Belinda Holbrook <holbrook@NETINS.NET>]

Thanks so much to everyone who sent in their suggestions for numbers in
children's literature to help me with a contest for Children's Book Week.
I will prepare a hit of all those suggestions in a day or two. Right now =
I
thought I should get the contest out in case you might want to use it.=20

The idea is that students will answer a question found in children's book=
s
or nursery rhymes. They will take that answer and use it to add or
subtract it from the previous total. The tricky part about these kinds of
contests is that if you don't have all the resources in your library it's
hard for the kids to find the answers. (And in this particular contest,
you can't leave any of them out or it would mix up the final answer.) My
solution to this would be to let the kids look up the books in a catalog
like Permabound or Econoclad or just fill in the ones you don't have.

On my final printed version I will have it in three columns. The question=
s
will be on the left, then a blank with a plus or minus in it for the
answer and then a blank for the current total. I will just send you the
questions. The answers and totals will be at the end.=20

I had fun doing this and I did the math about six times so I hope it's al=
l
correct! I also haven't come up with a snazzy title so let me know if you
have any ideas! I'd also love to hear if you used it and if your students
enjoyed it.

Belinda Holbrook
Madison School
Davenport, IA
holbrook@netins.net

1. Divide the number of hats that Bartholomew Cubbins wore (Seuss) by the
number of things that Old King Cole called for. (nursery rhyme)

2. Subtract the number of days it rained after Noah built his ark. (Bible=
)

3. Subtract the number of Daves that Mrs. McCave had in Dr. Seuss=D5s sto=
ry
in the Sneeches called =D2Too Many Daves=D3.

4. Add the number of wigs that Gregory Griggs had. (nursery rhyme)

5. Add the number of wives that the man had that I saw =D2as I was going =
to
St. Ives=D3. (nursery rhyme)

6. Add the number of ships I saw come sailing by. (nursery rhyme)

7. Add the hour that Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town. (nursery
rhyme)

8. Add the number of thieves that Ali Baba follows. (folktale)

9. Subtract the number of kids (goats) that the wolf ate. (Brothers Grimm=
)

10. Subtract the number of balloons used to escape the island of Krakatoa.
(Du Bois)

11. Rub-a-dub-dub! Add the number of men in a tub. (nursery rhyme)

12. Hickory dickory dock. Add the hour that the clock struck. (nursery
rhyme)

13. =D2They all rolled over and one fell out.=D3 Subtract the number that=
 were
in the bed to begin with. (song)

14. Subtract the number of emergencies that Benjie listed in the book by
Betsy Byars.

15. Add the number of ways to sink a sub in the book by Jamie Gilson.

16. Add the number of mittens that the kittens lost. (nursery rhyme) BE
CAREFUL!

17. Subtract the number of horses that =D2she=D5ll be comin=D5 =D4round t=
he
mountain=D3 with. (song)

18. Add the number of mice that Mrs. Brice had. (Hoff)

19. Add the number of dwarfs that lived with Snow White. (fairy tale)

20. Add the number of stepsisters that Cinderella had. (fairy tale)

21. Subtract the number of fathers that lived in the house that Meindert
DeJong wrote about.

22. Add the number of blind mice. (nursery rhyme)

23. Add the number of the day that my true love gave me ladies dancing.
(song)

24. Subtract the total of little pigs, Billy Goats Gruff, and the number
of bears that lived in the house that Goldilocks visited. (fairy tales)

25. Add the number of days that Rumplestiltskin gave the Queen to find ou=
t
his name. (Brothers Grimm)

26. Sing a song of sixpence! Add the number of blackbirds baked in the
pie. (nursery rhyme)

27. Add the number of dancing princesses. (Brothers Grimm)

28. Subtract the number of dresses that Wanda Petronski drew. (Estes)

You should end up with the number of plums that Little Jack Horner got
from his Christmas pie! (nursery rhyme)

Answers:
1. 500/5  100
2. 40      60
3. 23      37
4. 27      64
5. 7       71
6. 3       74
7. 8       82
8. 40     122
9. 7      115
10. 21     94
11. 3      97
12. 1      98
13. 10     88
14. 18     70
15. 13     83
16. 6      89
17. 6      83
18. 25     108
19. 7      115
20. 2      117
21. 60     57
22. 3      60
23. 11     71
24. 9      62
25. 3      65
26. 24     89
27. 12    101
28. 1       1