1. The Bicycle Ride Kim is visiting a friend's house overnight. Kim's friend Terry lives 3 km away, not too far by bicycle. Kim leaves home and gets 1/3 of the way to Terry's house before riding back home to get a pillow. On the second attempt to get to Terry's house, Kim gets halfway there but then rides back home to get a toothbrush. Finally, Kim rides 3/4 of the way to Terry's house before returning home once again to get a new music CD to listen to. How far has Kim ridden to finally get to Terry's house?

2. What question is being asked? Kim is visiting a friend's house overnight. Kim's friend Terry lives 3 km away, not too far by bicycle. Kim leaves home and gets 1/3 of the way to Terry's house before riding back home to get a pillow. On the second attempt to get to Terry's house, Kim gets halfway there but then rides back home to get a toothbrush. Finally, Kim rides 3/4 of the way to Terry's house before returning home once again to get a new music CD to listen to. How far has Kim ridden to finally get to Terry's house?

3. What information do we have? Kim is visiting a friend's house overnight. Kim's friend Terry lives 3 km away, not too far by bicycle. Kim leaves home and gets 1/3 of the way to Terry's house before riding back home to get a pillow. On the second attempt to get to Terry's house, Kim gets halfway there but then rides back home to get a toothbrush. Finally, Kim rides 3/4 of the way to Terry's house before returning home once again to get a new music CD to listen to. How far has Kim ridden to finally get to Terry's house?

4. What information do we have?  3 km from Kim’s house to Terry’s house  Travels 1 / 3 of the distance the first time  Travels back home for a pillow  Travels ½ of the distance the second time  Travels back home for a toothbrush  Travels ¾ of the distance the third time  Travels back home for music  Travels all the way to Terry’s house

5. What are we trying to find? Counting all the partial trips and trips back home, how far did Kim actually ride before getting to Terry’s house?

6. Draw a Diagram  3 km from Kim’s house to Terry’s house

7. Draw a Diagram  Travels 1 / 3 of the distance the first time  Travels back home for a pillow  1 / 3 of 3 km is 1 km

8. Draw a Diagram  Travels ½ of the distance the second time  Travels back home for a toothbrush  ½ of 3 km is 1.5 km

9. Draw a Diagram  Travels ¾ of the distance the second time  Travels back home for music  ¾ of 3 km is 2.25 km

10. Use the diagram to find the total distance to solve the problem. Trace the path Kim takes, adding up the distances along the way. 1+ 1+ 1.5 + 1.5 + 2.25+ 2.25+ 3 = 12.5 km