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Winners of the December 2003 Math Cats Writing Contest:

The contest rules were: __________ Have you ever done some mental math outside of school? Maybe you were trying to add up the cost of a few things in a store, or doubling the ingredients to make a bigger recipe, or sharing some treats with your friends, or figuring out how many days until your next birthday, or using the scale of miles on a map when your family was driving somewhere far away, or trying to predict how many steps or how many minutes it might take to walk to your friend's house... Well, in this contest, we'd like you to tell us about a time when you used mental math (in your head, not on paper) in the "real world." You can write it like a story (with dialogue and details), or you can write a simple explanation. We like entries that are clear, well-written, and lively. In any case, we'd like to know exactly how you tried to figure things out in your head. (And did it work??) Did you need an exact answer or was an estimate good enough? __________ First Place - "Christmas Cookies" - by Sarah Kunetz Second Place - "Coming Home!" - by Maire D. Third Place - "While I Was in the Store" - by Daniella Morales Fourth Place - "Estimating the Party" - by Rachel Von K. Fifth Place - "Sleepy Time" - by Zoe K. Sixth Place - "Shopping with Mummy!" - by Lisa T. Other Finalists Who judged the contest? Prizes We're helping a special friend of Math Cats, too! __________ * First Place: Christmas Cookies by Sarah Kunetz age 9, grade 3, Heights Terrace Elementary School, Mrs. Trella's class Hazleton, Pennsylvania, U.S.      Christmas is coming and that is what made me think of this yummy mental math. Last year, my mom and I were baking cookies in the kitchen. We needed to make three batches of cookies. One for my mam-mam and pap-pap, one for my na-na and pop-pop,and one for my house.      So I thought to myself, "If we need one cup of sugar for one batch and we're making three batches, we need three cups of sugar."      My mom was there adding the ingredients while I was thinking. My mom said, "How many cups of sugar do we need, Sarah?"      I told her, "Three cups, one for mam-mam and pap-pap, one for na-na and pop-pop, and one for us. - Hey, I just used mental math!"      So my mom went to the cupboard and got a measuring cup and some flour and began baking the cookies. And guess what, I used mental math the rest of the day! The only problem was as the yummy cookies were coming out of the oven, I was eating them! __________ * Second Place: Coming Home! by Maire G. age 7, grade 2, Elk Point-Jefferson School, Mrs. Foltz's class, Elk Point, South Dakota, U.S.      My sister and I were drawing pictures and we were wondering how long until our sister Storm would come home from Michigan.      Robin said, "I'll get a paper to figure out how long."      I said, "No. We can figure this out in our heads."      I thought, "Let's see. Storm comes home on the seventeenth, and today's the thirteenth, so since 17 minus 13 is 4, she'll be home in 4 days!"      Robin (who is four years old) learned a math fact, and I figured it out! __________ * Third Place: While I Was in the Store by Daniella Morales age 8, grade 3, Heights Terrace Elementary School, Mrs. Trella's class, Hazleton, Pennsylvania, U.S.      One day, I was thinking to myself while I was in the grocery store with my mom. Then my mother picked some bread and it cost $1.00. Then she bought a girl and a boy toy that cost 14.00 each.      Then I said, "Mom, guess what, I am doing some mental math in my head."      "Oh really," Mom said.      "Yeah," I said. "And so far you spent $29.00."      But then she bought gum now that cost 50 cents. And now I counted, "You spent $29.50."      Then we got to the cashier and she said, "Total, you owe $29.50." I was correct, it was $29.50. __________ * Fourth Place: Estimating the Party by Rachel Von K. age 8, grade 3, St. Peter's Interparish School, Mrs. Luna's class Washington, D.C., U.S.      My mom said there was going to be a party!      I said, "How many kids?"      "15," said Mom, "and 20 grown-ups."      I used mental math, and the answer was 35, and that's how many came.      Then I had to use mental math again because 20 grown-ups left with 5 kids, so I had to subtract 35 - 25 = 10, and there were 10 people left.      There were 10 kids left, so we watched a movie and had popcorn. But there were only 5 bowls. So there were 2 kids to each bowl. __________ * Fifth Place: Sleepy Time by Zoe K. age 11, grade 5, Oak Point Intermediate School, Heidi Wavinak's class Eden Prairie, Minnesota, U.S.      Once I woke up in the middle of the night and I wanted to know how long it was until I had to get up. I had to get up at 6:30. It was 3:40. I knew 3 + 3 = 6, but I had to factor the minutes in too. I rounded 40 to 60 so it would be 2 hours and 30 minutes with rounding, plus the minutes it would be 2 hours and 50 before I woke up. I did not need a exact answer, I just wanted a picture about it. My estimating was correct! I was glad for that 2 hours and 50 minutes extra sleep! __________ * Sixth Place: Shopping with Mummy! by Lisa T. age 6, grade 1, St Peter's Catholic Primary School, Mrs. McComb's class Caboolture, Queensland, Australia      One day, me and mummy went shopping.      I went and chose to buy one lollie that was a dollar, and a packet of chips for 2 dollars. Mummy asked to find out how much it would cost altogether. So in my head, I added 1 dollar and 2 dollars, that equals 3 dollars!! I am so smart!      The next time we went shopping I could figure out how much it cost, by myself! _______________ * Other Finalists Birthday Cake by Stephanie W. age 9, grade 4, St Peter's Catholic Primary school, Mr. Jones's class, Caboolture, Queensland, Australia      I have 14 guinea pigs at home and I had to sort them into cages. We had 2 cages but I had the problem of boys and girls. I have 4 boys and 10 girls. I thought that I needed another cage so I got another one and I had to decide which girls to go in which cage so I decided to half them 5 in each. That solved all my problems!!! At the Store by Billy Ringleben age 8, grade 3, Heights Terrace Elementary School, Mrs. Trella's class, Hazleton, Pennsylvania, U.S.      When I used mental math it was when I had 10 dollars and I was at the store. I was wondering how much I could buy. I saw a capgun for $1.00 and a book for $1.00 so that was $2.00. I now had $8.00 left. Then I was walking around and bought three packs of gum for 50 cents each. Then I went and bought a drink for 50 cents. I said to myself, if this is $2.00 I can buy 6 bottles of 7up for $1.00 each. So then that was ten dollars. That was when I used mental math. Christmas by Maggie D. age 10, grade 4, Blue Ridge Elementary School, Mrs. Bartkus's class, Hallstead, Pennsylvania, U.S. HMMM, It is the 11th of December, and 25 - 11 = 14 .................. 2 more weeks till Christmas!!!! Guinea Pigs by Joel W. age 11, grade 5, St Peter's Catholic Primary school, Mrs. Brown's class, Caboolture, Queensland, Australia      I have 14 guinea pigs at home and I had to sort them into cages. We had 2 cages but I had the problem of boys and girls. I have 4 boys and 10 girls. I thought that I needed another cage so I got another one and I had to decide which girls to go in which cage so I decided to half them 5 in each. That solved all my problems!!! At the Card Store by Sean Rogers age 8, grade 3, Heights Terrace Elementary School, Mrs. Trella's class, Hazleton, Pennsylvania, U.S.      On Saturday when I went to the card store, I bought two packs of pokemon cards and I was thinking to myself, if I have 10 dollars and the packs are 3 dollars each, about how many more packs could I buy? About 1 more pack I could have bought. Cartoons Meet Mental Math by Rebecca N. age 8, grade 3, Heights Terrace Elementary School, Mrs. Trella's class, Hazleton, Pennsylvania, U.S.      The time I used mental math was when I wanted to know when my favorite show was coming on. It was 2:30 and my show comes on at 4:30. I had to use mental math to see how many shows would come between the show that I was watching and the show I wanted to see. And that was the time I used mental math. Prehistoric Planet by Shaidy Moronta age 8, grade 3, Heights Terrace Elementary School, Mrs. Trella's class, Hazleton, Pennsylvania, U.S.      On Monday I was trying to figure out how long do I have to wait until they give Prehistoric Planet on TV at 7:30. So since I have Direct TV I checked the guide and it was 4:30. So then I turned over to 7:30 PM and I used mental math to figure out how much time was it going to take me to watch Prehistoric Planet on the Discovery Kids Channel. It took three hours until they gave Prehistoric Planet. I usually watch Prehistoric Planet every day but I didn't really think about how long I have to wait to watch Prehistoric Planet. ____________________ * Who judged the contest? * Evan Hiller of New Jersey, age 10 * Lydia Martin of New York, age 13 * Pete Martin of New York, age 15 * Emily P. of Maryland, age 9 __________ * Prizes The first place prize is a Math Cats T-shirt. The first through sixth place entries receive special large Math Cats certificates, and the other finalist entries receive a smaller certificate. ____________________ * We're helping a special friend of Math Cats, too! Wendy of Math Cats has made a donation to the IFOPA in honor of the kids who wrote the top three entries and in honor of Jasmin Floyd, a young friend of Math Cats. You can learn about this worthy cause on the main contest page.

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