Time for Basketball!

Kevin and his teammates scored 62, 59, 76, and 70 points in their first four basketball games. After 5 games their scoring average was 69 points. How many points did they score in their fifth game?

Hooked on Books

For their fall book reports, Brooke, Carla, Tony, and Nadine each read 4 of the books shown above. Their teacher told them that each book had to be from a different category. Nobody read the same combination of books.
All four students read a mystery, but Brooke and Tony both read the longer mystery.
Everyone except Tony read a book from a series. Nadine was the only one to read the longer of the two choices.
Tony and Carla read the longest book.
Nadine read the biography and the classic that no one else read.
Carla did not read a biography.
Brooke read the longer historical fiction but the shorter biography.
Tony and Carla read the shorter historical-fiction book.
How many pages did each person read?

What's Your Sign?

+ - x /

In the equation below, replace each question mark with one of the four mathematical signs: +,-, ×, or ÷. Each sign can be used only once. Fill in the blanks to solve the equation. (Hint: the first sign is +.)

7 ? 5 ? 4 ? 7 ? 6 = 15

Fast Flying Birds!

The fastest flying bird, the Peregrine Falcon, can fly 220 miles per hour. Hummingbirds can fly 27 miles per hour. The loon can fly 90 miles per hour. How much faster can a Peregrine Falcon fly than a hummingbird? How much faster can a loon fly than a hummingbird?

ALBERT EINSTEIN

Although Albert Einstein was born in Germany, he became an American citizen when he was 61 years old. He was awarded the Nobel Prize of Physics in 1920. If he was born in 1879, in what year did he become an American citizen?

COOKIES CRUMBLE

QUESTION:

Mrs. Hayes made a batch of cookies for Christian, Dakota, Houston, and Will. The children shared the cookies equally and finished them all right away.
Then Mrs. Hayes made another batch of cookies, twice as big as the first. When she took the cookies off the cookie sheet, 6 of them crumbled, so she didn't serve them to the children. She gave the children the rest of the cookies.
Just then, Mr. Johnson came into the room and ate 2 cookies from the children's tray. Each of the children ate 3 more cookies along with a glass of milk. They were stuffed, so they decided to leave the last 4 cookies on the tray.
How many cookies were in the first batch? How many cookies did each of the children eat?

OUCH!!

Ouch!
We certainly had some excitement around here last week. It all started when Blake and Will were visiting last weekend. They were riding their bikes when Blake fell and hurt his hand, so he went to the emergency room to check it out. Sure enough, he had a broken finger! After X-rays and a taped up finger, Blake seemed hardly the worse for wear, so we decided to stop by the local ice cream store on the way home.
"Does it hurt much?" asked Will in a worried tone.
"Only when I forget and try to bend it," answered Blake. "I'm glad it's my left hand too, so I can still write."
"What are you thinking about writing at a time like this?" I asked, taking a bite out of my sugar cone.
"Oh, I was thinking of writing Mrs. Hayes. She's on a trip to Washington D.C. and it will be exciting to tell her about my broken finger – especially if I make up a math challenge about it," said Blake, laughing.
I had to admit that this was true. His teacher, Mrs. Hayes just loves math challenges. "As soon as we get home, I'll get some paper and a pen for you. Do you have an idea already?" I asked.
"Yes, in fact I do," said Blake, smiling a bit. "I was listening to the doctor as she was taping up my finger and I got an idea for it."
Here is what Blake wrote to Mrs. Hayes:

Dear Mrs. Hayes,

I fell off my bike and broke one of the finger bones in my left hand. But I have lots more bones in my hands.

Can you figure out how many unbroken bones I have on my hands?
Here are some clues:

I have 2 bones in each thumb.
I have 3 bones in all the other fingers.
I have 2 more palm bones on each hand than finger bones on each finger.
I have 3 more wrist bones on each hand than palm bones on each hand.

See if your students can figure out the answer and tell how they figured it out!

Blake T.