Read by Ms. Sharma

Math CurseWritten by Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith

Math Curse #1 The whole morning is one problem after another. There are 24 kids in my class. I just know somebody is going to bring cupcakes to share. We sit in 4 rows with 6 desks. What if Ms. Fibonacci rearranges the desks to make:

a)6 rows? _____ desks in a row

b)8 rows? _____ desks in a row

c)3 rows? _____ desks in a row

Math Curse #2

• Social Studies is a GEOGRAPHY problem:

The Mississippi River is about 4,000 kilometers long.

An M&M is about 1 centimeter long.

There are 100 centimeters in a meter, and 1000 meters in a kilometer.

Estimate how many M&Ms it would take to measure the length of the Mississippi River.

Math Curse #3

• On the planet Tetra, kids have only 2 fingers on each hand.

They count 1, 2, 3, 10…

Finish counting to 30.

____, _____, _____, _____,

_____, ______, ______, _____

Math Curse #4

• I wake up on Wednesday morning at 7:15. It takes me 10 minutes to get dressed, 15 minutes to eat my breakfast, and 1 minute to brush my teeth.

What time will I be ready?

Math Curse #5

• Name one way you have encountered math today (other than math class or math homework!)

Bonus

AnswersCurse #1-

a)6 rows? 4 desks in a row

b)8 rows? 3 desks in a row

c)3 rows? 8 desks in a row

Curse #2- It would take 400,000,000 M&Ms to measure the Mississippi River

Curse #3- 11,12, 13, 20, 21, 22, 23, 30

Curse #4- You will be ready at 7:41 A.M.

Bonus- Jon has 9 nephews and 6 nieces.

Answer Page (Sample)

• Page 1

• 1. I picked 35 flowers

• 2. I ate 2. 267 in ten seconds

• Page 2

• 1. The math problem was 1. 3 Miles long

• 2. The snake was 2. 216 Inches

• Page 3

• 1. 512 cats ate cheese

• 2. 315 dogs burped loudly.