Fred’s Birthday Party By: Angelica McCants

This is Fred he is excited because today is his birthday. He is going to help his mom get ready for his party.

The first thing they need to do is fill the party bags. Fred counts the party bags, “1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12.” Fred asks his mom, “How many bags do we need to fill?” Fred’s mom replies, “Eight of you friends will be coming to your party.” Fred thinks, “I wonder how many we will have left over.”

Fred tells his mom, “Mom I am going to hand you eight bags. Then I am going to see how many I have left over. Here you go mom 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.”

Fred then counts the bags he has left over. “1,2,3,4.” Fred thinks for a second and tells his mom, “Hey mom I just did subtraction. We had twelve bags and you took eight away which left four for me. This Is 12-8=4.” Fred’s mom tells Fred, “ You are correct Fred, very smart thinking.”

Fred’s mom asks Fred, “Can you finish filling the bags while I put the icing on your cake?” Fred says, “sure, what do I need to put in the bags?” First put these bubbles in the bags. Fred counts the bottles of bubbles. “1,2,3,4,5,6, bottles of bubbles.” Fred thinks for a second and realizes he does not have enough bottles for all eight of his bags

Fred laid all eight bags next to each other and put one bottle of bubbles on each bag 1,2,3,4,5,6. He sees that there are two bags that do not have bubbles. He stops to think for a second and finds that he needs two more bottles of bubbles and he says, “that right 6+2=8 that is addition.”

Fred shouts out to his mom, “Mom I need two more bottles of bubbles.” Fred’s mom brings two more bottles of bubbles and a bag of candy to fill each bag. The bag has 18 chocolate bars in it. Fred thought, “I wonder how many chocolate bars I can put in each bag evenly, will there be any Left over?”

Fred comes up with a plan. “I will lay the eight bags next to each other. I will put a candy bar on each bag over and over again until I don’t have enough to make it even 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10,11,12,13,15,14,16,17,18.” Fred discovers he can put 2 candy bars in each bag and will have 2 extra for himself to enjoy later.

Fred thinks, “I had to use both addition and subtraction to figure out this problem. I had eighteen candy bars and eight bags to fill. I know that 9+9=18 and 8+8=16. I can put two candy bars in each bag which makes 16 and I have two left over. I know this is true because 18-2=16.” Fred was having a great time figuring out word problems he forgot about his Special day.

Fred soon remembered it was his birthday when he heard the doorbell ring. Happy birthday Fred!

Work Cites Clip art from Microsoft power point asp Remove frame asp Remove frame Photographs by Angelica McCants