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Original poster

Homework help please

35 replies

DianaDors · 19/05/2011 21:32

Ds 1 came home with this tonight. Dh & I have had a go too and the Teacher will be getting a note from me tomorrow. Your thoughts and opinions would be much appreciated, many thanks!

Learning Objective: I can round remainders after division.

Write only the answers in your books. Show your working out.

1.Zoe has 108 pens. Each packet holds ten pens. How many packets does she need?

2.Derek can saw 3 boards from each plank. How many planks are needed to saw 25 boards?

3.A tennis coach has 42 tennis balls. Each box holds four balls. How many boxes does he need?

4.There are 30 children in a P.E. lesson. How many teams of four can be made?

5.There are 27 children in a class. Six children can sit at each table. How many tables are needed?

6.Cans of drink are sold in packs of four. There are 26 cans. How many packs of four can be made?

7.The 28 children in a class need rubbers. Each box holds 8 rubbers. How many boxes does the teacher need to collect?

8.Marcus has £20. Books cost £3 each. How many books can Marcus buy?

OP posts:
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elphabadefiesgravity · 19/05/2011 21:36
  1. 11
  2. 9
  3. 11
  4. 7
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 4
  8. 6
BarryShitpeas · 19/05/2011 21:37

What year is this for?

Goblinchild · 19/05/2011 21:40

Is your child in Y3 or 4? They are the sort of questions requiring knowledge of times tables, how to use them to divide a number, and how to round up to the nearest multiple to solve a so called 'real-life problem'
What will the note say?

BadBagel · 19/05/2011 21:41

Same as elpha

What is the problem?

elphabadefiesgravity · 19/05/2011 21:41

Dd is year 4 and did remainders at the start of the year.

Goblinchild · 19/05/2011 21:42

If he doesn't know his tables, he can count in in steps of ten for the first question, in steps of 3 for the second, in 4s for the third question...

Goblinchild · 19/05/2011 21:42

What is the problem with this homework OP, and how old is your DS?

elphabadefiesgravity · 19/05/2011 21:43

I don't know my times tables Blush and worked it out on my fingers. Find the answer then round up or down according to the scenario

elphabadefiesgravity · 19/05/2011 21:44

Of course if your ds is Year 1 then I would say it is too hard above the level of understandingof a child that age. Year 3-5 ish its fine.

BadBagel · 19/05/2011 21:45

DS is in year 4 too and it's the kind of homework he has been doing this year.

jenniec79 · 19/05/2011 21:47
  1. 11. Ten are full, the other has 8 pens in and 2 gaps. If she checks theyn work while she's sorting them out though she could probably get it down to 2 or 3!
  1. 9 planks needed - 2/3 of a plank left over. May as well make a couple of spare boards, really!
  1. 11. Ten full; one has 2 in it and 2 gaps. Where did they go?
  1. 7. There are 2 kids left out. Unless someone has a broken leg or a note from home, this isn't a good game.
  1. 5. 4 full ones and one with 3 spare chairs. The gaps will help when people fall out at playtime.
  1. 6. Two cans left over - one for now and one for later - well we did do the sorting out, and could do with a drink.
  1. 4 boxes. She should have 4 rubbers left over, but these things do have a tendency to go missing - check the boxes are full or get the kids to bring their own rubbers.
  1. 6 books with £2 change. How much were the drinks again? Or he could get his own rubber and 2 more pens for Zoe? Or join a library and buy a calculator!
Original poster
DianaDors · 19/05/2011 21:52

year 2

and we got:

  1. 10 r8 so 11
  2. 8 r1 so should then be 9 but its a lot to round up by?
3.10 r2 but should be 11 but its a lot to round up by?
  1. 7 r2 so should we round down to just 7?
  2. 4 r3 but 5 makes more sense
  3. 4 r2 so rounding to 4 makes sense
  4. 3 r4 so 4 makes sense
  5. 6 r2 so 6 makes sense

its not the divisions that seem hard, its the rounding the remainder. Ds1 was told to round to the nearest 10, but I can't see how that rule holds true?

for example:

  1. 108 divided by 10 gives you 10 with 8remainder, but it makes sense to have 11 packets with just 8pens in one of them. But Ds1 said why couldn't she just get 18 packets and have 6 in each.

While I get that he's not dividing by 10 ... I could see his point.

2.Derek can saw 3 boards from each plank. How many planks are needed to saw 25 boards?

so if Ds1 has to round to the nearest 10 then 25 divided by 3 gives you 8 with 1 remainder but rounding the remainder to the nearest 10 shouldn't really give you 9 then should it? But then I don't suppose that helps Derek much?

Help please!

OP posts:
fluffles · 19/05/2011 21:52

1.Zoe has 108 pens. Each packet holds ten pens. How many packets does she need?
Ten full packets makes 100 so she has 8 left over which she needs one more packet for = 11

2.Derek can saw 3 boards from each plank. How many planks are needed to saw 25 boards?
closest in the three times table is that 8 boards gives 3x8=24 but that isn't enough so he needs 9 boards.

3.A tennis coach has 42 tennis balls. Each box holds four balls. How many boxes does he need?
four times ten is 40 but he needs one more box for the remaining two so the answer is 11 again.

4.There are 30 children in a P.E. lesson. How many teams of four can be made?
four times 7 is 28 which is closest so you have seven teams and two children left over.

5.There are 27 children in a class. Six children can sit at each table. How many tables are needed?
six times four is 24 so 3 kids wouldn't have a seat, so you need 7 tables.

6.Cans of drink are sold in packs of four. There are 26 cans. How many packs of four can be made?
six times four is 24, this question isn't interested in the remainders just the whole packs of four so the answer is six.

7.The 28 children in a class need rubbers. Each box holds 8 rubbers. How many boxes does the teacher need to collect?
three boxes gives you 24 rubbers, teacher needs four boxes to have enough for 28.

8.Marcus has £20. Books cost £3 each. How many books can Marcus buy?
six books would cost £18 with two pounds left which isn't enough for another book so he can only have six.

Original poster
DianaDors · 19/05/2011 21:55

jenniec79

you have no idea how tempted I am to send your 'homework' in! First laugh I've had all day ;-)

OP posts:
spanieleyes · 19/05/2011 21:56

But these are problems, not calculations, so you have to be practical! If you want 108 pens and they come in packets of 10, you have to buy 11 packets, you would still need 11 packets even if you only wanted 102 pens!
The skill being tested here is not just the ability to calculate but to work out what you are actually being asked to do! The objective is however a little imprecise, you are not rounding remainders, you are solving problems involving remainders!

Lorelai · 19/05/2011 21:57

Don't think about the answer from a 'maths' point of view, but from a real-life point of view - just answer what the question is asking - I think you are over-thinking it. If you had 108 pencils, and the boxes you have handy hold 10 each, then you can get 10 full boxes and put the 'remainder' into a further box, making 11. Same with the planks - once you have cut up 8 planks you will have 24 boards, but you need 25, so will have to cut up one more - 9 in total.

Goblinchild · 19/05/2011 21:58

It's a real life question because you have to use your common sense to work out the answer.
Take number 5. How many tables? If you say 4, then the left over 3 have to sit on the floor all the time. So of course you need 5.
The learning objective does not say to round to the nearest 10. Perhaps your son did that in the lesson and got confused.

Original poster
DianaDors · 19/05/2011 21:59

That's it spanieleyes, and I doubt the teacher has realised this. I'm pretty annoyed about the learning objective. I don't know why he couldn't have just been given them as simple calculations. I know this was downloaded from a website & its clear to me that it hasn't been checked, just random rubbish. The easy way is to just do the divisions, but I really want to make a point as its not the first time 'anyoldrubbish' has come home.

OP posts:
spanieleyes · 19/05/2011 22:01

The reason they are not given as simple calculations is that SATs papers have very few straightforward calculations but lots of real life problems to do and these are typical of the questions they might face!

Lorelai · 19/05/2011 22:02

But it is rounding - not to the nearest 10 (I agree with goblinchild about that being your son's confusion), but still rounding up or down as needed.

elphabadefiesgravity · 19/05/2011 22:02

I would say it is a little hard for ear 2 (ds is in Year 2) but it is doable and it certainlyisn't rubbish

fluffles · 19/05/2011 22:02

but it is rounding.. every question asks you to either round up or round down.

the confusion is your DS was trying to round to the nearest ten but the questions need rounding up or down to different numbers depending on the question.

Original poster
DianaDors · 19/05/2011 22:03

I hear what you're saying Lorelai & Goblinchild, his most recent estimation homework has been rounding to the nearest 10, so what Ds1 says about rounding to the nearest 10 tonight is consistent with that. He's only 6, they are only supposed to be doing 2, 5 & 10x tables at this stage. It really doesn't seem 'normal' homework to us ... esp yr 2.

OP posts:
Goblinchild · 19/05/2011 22:04

'I know this was downloaded from a website & its clear to me that it hasn't been checked, just random rubbish.'

Yet a number of teachers on this thread are trying to explain the reasoning to you, it isn't random rubbish , despite the fact that you and your DP seem to have found it a bit tricky.

Goblinchild · 19/05/2011 22:05

Y2 are learning to count on in steps of 3, 4, 5, 6 etc though, and that's all this homework requires.