Charlotte Morgan and the Great Big Math Problem--Chapter 27--The Turing Elementary School Math Bee

  This is my next book.  

It is currently being copy edited, (so there will be the occasional typo in this version) and I am having a few illustrations done.

I am including the tag #steemiteducation because I wrote this thinking like a teacher.  The characters use math and describe their math thinking as they work through problems.  I am a former 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade teacher, so I used my experience and background from those years as I wrote this.Update: The book is now available for preorder on Amazon.  Click here to get it on Kindle.

Click here for chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20, Chapter 21, Chapter 22, Chapter 23, Chapter 24, Chapter 25, chapter 26, 

Summary: The school Math Bee is finally  here.

Chapter 26 The Turing Elementary School Math Bee

Kindergartners filed in first.  They always come in first,  they need to make sure that they have a good place to sit and that older students aren’t blocking their view.  The cafeteria got louder as more classes filed in.  I saw the rest of Mrs. King’s class come in, Calvin and Gavin sat next to each other.  Gavin waved at me.  I smiled and waved back.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my parents come in.  They both waved and found a seat in the back with other parents.

After the cafeteria was full, Mr. Spotts walked to the mic and addressed the school.  “Good morning, Turing Elementary School students!  Welcome to our Annual Elementary School Math Bee.  These students up here have worked very hard to represent their classes.  We will give two different awards, one award for a grade level winner, and one award for overall winner.  Mrs. Johnson will be asking the questions that our participants will be answering.  Of course, we ask that during the question phase you do not shout out any answers.  So let’s begin!”

My heart was racing.  Mrs. Johnson spoke into her microphone, “Let’s begin with second grade, Lindsey Porter you’re first up!”  Mrs. Johnson smiled as watch Lindsey stand up and approach the microphone.  Lindsey held tight onto her clipboard and shifted her weight as she waited on her first question.  Mrs. Johnson spoke to the audience, “I will be asking grade level appropriate questions and then as the questions are answered the more difficult they become.  So a second grade could be answer third or fourth grade level questions, and a fifth grader could be answering questions on the seventh or eighth grade levels.  So let us begin with Lindsey.  Lindsey, what is 12 + 17?  You have thirty seconds.”

The cafeteria was silent, but it wasn’t silent for long, “29!” Lindsey shouted into the mic. 

“That is correct!”  

The second grade classes cheered.  Lindsey’s cheeks went red, and she quickly returned to her seat.

The remaining three second graders went to the mic and got their questions answered quickly and correctly.

My heart fluttered as I knew what was coming.

“And first up for the third grade, Charlotte Morgan,” said Mrs. Johnson.

My class cheered, Mrs. King clapped calmly.  I heard my dad let out a “Whoop!  Whoop!” from the back of the cafeteria.  I saw him put his fist in the air.

The microphone was right in my face, just under my nose.  I double checked to make sure that I had my stuff—pencils, paper, and clipboard.  Once I knew I had my stuff I looked at Mrs. Johnson.  She smiled at me, her cheeks made her eyes look small.  

“Okay Charlotte, your question is what is 15 x 3?  You have thirty seconds.”

The answer appeared quickly in my head, forty-five.  With all the eyes staring at me I wanted to double check myself.  I quickly wrote the problem down and did the  work.  Yeah, I was correct the first time, 45.

“Forty-five,” I said into the microphone.  There was a pause as Mrs. Johnson looked at her sheet.

“That is correct!” she finally said.

Cheers came from the third grade section.  My dad gave me a thumbs up.

I sat down.  “Good Luck!” I said to Sally, as her name was called.  

She got 12 x 4, it didn’t take her anytime to answer it, “48!” she shouted.

Cheers and clapping from our class and she sat back down.

Aaron and Marcus, got their answers correct.  My friends has survived the first round.

The fourth graders went quickly.  They answered double digit multiplication questions, 12 x 12 was the first one. 

Fifth grade when through their first questions with a breeze, all division questions.

Mrs. Johnson spoke into her microphone, “Thank you to all of our participants!  And thank you to the audience for being great listeners and being respectful.  Oh, second will begin now, and expect these question to be a little more difficult.  Let’s begin again with Lindsey.”

Lindsey zoomed to the microphone.  She grasped her materials and looked at Mrs. Johnson.  Lindsey looked like she was going to throw up.

“Okay, Lindsey, your question is word problem, you can see the word problem on the monitor here on my desk.  I will read the question for you and for our audience members.  Here we go.”  Mrs. Johnson cleared her throat, “Michael had eight baseballs, he got three more for his birthday,  He played a baseball game with his friends and he lost four of them in the game.  How many baseballs does he have left?  You have sixty seconds, good luck!”

Lindsey stared at the monitor, she reread the problem, and then got to work.  Her pencil waved back and forth across the paper.  She stopped to erase and wipe off eraser dust.

“You have fifteen seconds,” Mrs. Johnson said in a quiet and soothing tone.

“Eight!” shouted Lindsey.  My heart sank.

“The answer is seven.  I am so sorry dear,” Mrs. Johnson frowned a little.  The audience let a sigh in disappointment.

Lindsey’s face turned red, and she hung her head.  She walked with purpose off the stage and sat.  The second graders clapped for her as she sat down with the rest of her class.  I thought she was going to cry.  But she never did.  

The next two second graders, Jefferson and Sam got their answers correct and survived the round.  Marcey was the last second grader, and she did not answer her question correctly, she sat down.  There was now no one sitting to my left.  Sally still sat next to me.

“Charlotte Morgan, you’re next,” said Mrs. Johnson.

“Good luck!  You’ll do great!” Sally smiled at me and put her thumb up.

I adjusted the microphone this time to make sure it wasn’t right at my nose.  I looked at Mrs. Johnson and waited for my question.

“Okay, Charlotte, your next question is a word problem.  You may read the question from the monitor.”  She cleared her throat, “The school needs to send the three third grade classes to the zoo for a field trip.  Each bus can transport sixty students.  Each class has twenty-five students in it.  A bus can hold sixty students.  Is one bus enough?  Why or why not?  You have sixty seconds.”

Oh, thank you goodness this was very close to the question we had in class.  But I wanted to make sure I was correct.  Twenty-five times three is seventy-five, because three quarters equals seventy-five cents.  Clearly seventy-five is too many for one bus.

“It is not enough,” I said into the microphone.  My voice echoed throughout the cafeteria.

“Why?” Mrs. Johnson asked.  “Please explain your answer.”

“With three classes at twenty-five students each, that is seventy-fives students.  That is too many for a bus that only carries sixty students.”

“Correct,” Mrs. Johnson said.  The audience clapped.  My parents gave me the thumbs up.

The rest of the third graders also got word problems for their questions.  They all survived.  

As the second round moved along, two fourth graders survived the round, Maria and Stacy.  The scooted to sit next to each other.

The fifth graders began their round. Sanjey was first.

Mrs. Johnson read him his question, “A video game company is shipping out seventy-four copies of their newest video game.  Each box can hold twelve games.  How many boxes do they need to ship out seventy-four boxes.  And how many more games can be fit into the last box?  You have two minutes.”

My head spun thinking about the question.  I talked myself through it.  If each box held twelve games, that meant that five boxes would hold sixty games.  But there are seventy-four games, that’s fourteen more games.  That’s one more box of twelve, giving me a total six boxes so far.  But there were two games left, so that’s one more box.  Seven boxes total.  And if there are only two games in the last box, that meant that box could hold ten more games.

“Fifteen seconds,” said Mrs. Johnson.

“There are seven boxes, and the last box can fit ten more games into the box,” said Sanjey.

“Correct!” said Mrs. Johnson.

“Yes!” I cheered, some for Sanjey, and some for me.  I had done a fifth grade question in my head and got it correct!

The next two fifth graders missed their questions, and apparently not by much.

The last fifth grader, Brett, answered his question correctly, leaving just him and Sanjey.

As the second round ended, there we two second graders, all four third graders, two fourth graders, and two fifth graders left.

“As we begin the third round, let’s give a round of applause for all of our remaining contestants, and let’s send an extra congratulations to the third grade for still having all four representatives left.  And let’s begin the third round, Jefferson you’re first up for the second grade.”

Jefferson bounded up to the microphone, his confidence was evident.  “Okay, Jefferson, what is 11 x 4?  You have sixty seconds.”

Multiplication is a third grade question, especially one with two digits.  

Jefferson stood like a statue.  He didn’t look at his paper or clipboard.  He leaned into the microphone, “Forty-four!”

“Correct,” said Mrs Johnson.  Jefferson pumped his fist, spun around, and bolted to his seat.  The cafeteria cheered.

Sam was next.  He made a bee line to the microphone.

Mrs. Johnson smiled, “Okay Sam, what is 12 x 3?  You have sixty seconds.”

Sam took his pencil and began marking up his paper.  It looked like he was counting marks.

“The answer is 34,” he said.  My stomach sank as he said his answer.

“I’’m sorry the answer is 36,” said Mrs. Johnson, and Sam walked off stage and sat with his class.

Mrs. Johnson turned to the audience, “And with that Jefferson Walker has become our second grade winner for this year.  Jefferson will stay up here until there is one representative for each grade.  Thank you to all the great second grade contestants.  You all did a wonderful job!”

The audience clapped.  The second classes were especially loud.  Jefferson  stood up, smiled, and took a bow.  Several chuckles came from the teachers.

“And with that, let’s move on to our next contestant, Charlotte, come on down,” Mrs. Johnson smiled.

I held my pencil, paper, and clipboard, and stared at the blank page.

“Okay, Charlotte, your question is, Troop 321 sold 168 cookies.  There were 14 cookies in each box.  How many boxes did they sell?  You have two minutes.”

The was a division problem.  And one with double digits, and definitely a fourth grade level question.  I wasn’t completely familiar with the steps to a two digit division problem.  But I had two minutes to figure it out.  I put a group of 14 dots on my paper, that showed one box with 14 cookies.  I needed to keep doing this until I had 168 cookies.  So as quick as I could I put another group of dots.  Which gave me 28 cookies and two boxes.

I kept going.

42 cookies-3 boxes.

56 cookies-4 boxes

70 cookies-5 boxes

The work kept going.

126 cookies-9 boxes

“Thirty seconds to go Charlotte,” Mrs. Johnson’s voice seemed distant.

140 cookies-10 boxes

154 cookies-11 boxes

168 cookies-12 boxes.

Twelve boxes.  It was twelve boxes.  

I hoped.

“Twelve boxes!” I shouted.

“That’s correct!” replied Mrs. Johnson.

The audience clapped, and my parents stood up and cheered.

I sat down.  “How did you figure out a two digit division problem?” Sally asked as I sat down.

I showed her my paper.

“Oh, groups of dots.  Of course!” 

“And next up is Sally.”

“Good luck,” I said as Sally headed to the microphone.

Sally was also given a double digit division word problem. “There are eighteen students in a class, the teacher passed out 216 pencils.  Each student got the exact same amount of pencils.  How many pencils did each student get?”

 The color drained from her cheeks.  She turned and waved her paper and clipboard at me, telling me that she was going to try my way.  I motioned for her to turn around and get to work.

She worked on the problem.  Her pencil zoomed across her paper.  And then she would stop and count items on her paper.

“Fifteen seconds left,” said Mrs. Johnson.  It really seemed like those two minutes were cut in half.

“Thirteen!” shouted Sally. 

Mrs. Johnson smiled disappeared. “I’m sorry that’s incorrect.  The correct answer is twelve.”

The audience moaned, and then clapped as Sally headed to sit with her class.

Aaron looked at me with panic in his eyes.

He went to the microphone.  Mrs. Johnson gave him his question.  He missed it.  The questions were getting harder.

“Well, here goes nothing,” said Marcus as he walked past me, to the microphone.

Marcus looked confident.  Then Mrs. Johnson gave him his question,  and his confident looked drained right out of him.  Two minutes later he was out of the math bee.  When he took his seat, Mrs. Johnson spoke into her microphone, “That means Charlotte Morgan is our third grade winner for this year!”  

The audience clapped.  I could hear my dad going “Whoop!  Whoop!” from the back.  My cheeks felt warm and I waved.

“Charlotte will stay up here to compete with the remaining grade level winners to see who is our overall Turing Elementary School Math Bee Champion!”

In the next five minutes, Maria Gonzalez was named the fourth grade champion.

Mrs. Johnson spoke to the school, “And let’s congratulate Maria as our fourth grade champion!”

The fifth graders began their round.  Sanjey took to the mic.  His question made my head spin.  23.3 times 14.35.  Two and three digits with a decimal, I have no idea how to do that.

But Sanjey did.  “The answer is 334.335.”  That was an interesting number I thought.

“That is correct!” said Mrs. Johnson.  The audience clapped and cheered.

Brett went to the microphone next.  Two minutes later he was out of the bee.

“Turing Elementary School let’s congratulate Sanjey Kapoor as our fifth grade champion.”  The fifth graders let out a loud roar.  The fifth grade teachers tried to quiet down their classes.  “So one final time let’s congratulate our grade level winners, Jefferson Walker, Charlotte Morgan, Maria Gonzalez, and Sanjey Kapoor.” Mrs. Johnson let the audience cheer a little longer.  “Now we will do the final round.  Each student will try a question that is above their grade level.  The questions will increase in difficuly if we need to progress.  Even though we have second grade through fifth grade represented on the stage, we could have a winner from the younger grades if they are able to answer high level questions.  So let’s begin.  Jefferson let’s begin with you.”

Jefferson stood at the mic.  The cafeteria was silent.

“Jefferson your question is what is 85 times 36?   You have two minutes.”

Wow that is definitely a higher level question, that’s like an end of third grade, maybe beginning fourth grade question.

Jefferson worked the problem on his paper.  He shook his head as he worked.  

He turned to the mic, “The answer is 3,130.”

“I’m sorry the answer is 3,060.  Jefferson, wonderful job please remain on the stage.”  He went back to his seat.  He didn’t seemed to be shook up about missing the problem.

“Charlotte, you’re next.”

I swore I was going to throw-up.  Luckily, I didn’t.

“Your question is, what is 195 divided by 13?  You have two minutes.”

Dang it!  A two digit division problem.  Time to get to work. 

I began drawing groups of 13 as fast as I could.

One group of 13 is 13.

Two groups of 13 is 26.

Three groups is 39.

I continued to furiously draw.  Hoping I didn’t miss count.

Eleven groups of 13 is 143.

Twelve groups of 13 is 156.

Thirteen groups is 168.

Fourteen groups is 182.

I was getting close!

“Charlotte, you have fifteen seconds.”

Fifteen groups is 195.

Fifteen.  I had no time to double check myself.

“Fifteen,” I shouted.

“That’s correct! Congratulations!” replied Mrs. Johnson.  The audience clapped.  

I heard my dad shout “Yes, Tambourine!”

Maria went to the mic next.  My head was spinning so much I didn’t hear her question.  But two minutes later, she missed it.

Sanjey walked with a purpose to the microphone.

“Sanjey, your question is ‘What is the circumference of circle when the radius is 2.25 feet?’ Your answer can go to the ten-thousandths place value, you may use pi to the hundredths place.  You have two minutes.”

Holy cow.  That’s a geometry question.  I know that circumference is the outside part of a circle.  I know that a radius is a straight line from the center of the circle to the edge of the circle.  I have no idea how to find those measurements.  And the ten-thousandths place is four steps behind the decimal.  And I have no idea what pi is.  

Sanjey leaned into the microphone, “The answer is 7.065 feet.”

He answered he question in less than a minute.

“That is correct! Congratulations, Sanjey!”  Sanjey sat ack down as the audience cheered him on.

“Charlotte, let’s try another question,” said Mrs. Johnson.

I stood at the mic wondering if I was even going to understand the question.

“Charlotte your question is, ‘If a rectangle has one side that is 7 feet long and the area of the rectangle is 84 feet, what is the length of the other side of the rectangle?’  You have two minutes.”

Ugh!  A geometry problem, I was going to have to guess.  I knew that the area is the space something covers.  But I have no idea how to find it.  I drew picture of a rectangle and put seven feet on one side and the number 84 in the middle I had no idea how to find the missing side.  Then I just stared at my paper.  Was it multiplication?  Was it division?  Was it something else?

“Charlotte your two minutes is up.  Do you have an answer?” asked Mrs. Johnson.

“Fourteen,” I guessed.

Mrs. Johnson frowned, “I’m sorry Charlotte, the correct answer is twelve.”

And with that I was finished.  I was glad to be finished.  The audience clapped and cheered as I took my seat.

Sanjey went to the microphone for his question.  

“Sanjey, here is your question, ‘If the base of a right triangle is nine inches, and the height is twelve inches, what is the hypotenuse of the triangle?”

I wrote a note to ask my dad what a hypotenuse was.

Sanjay looked at the microphone, “Fifteen inches.”

“That is correct!  Congratulations to Sanjey Kapoor is this year’s Turing Elementary School Math Bee Champion.”   The fifth grade classes cheered at the top of their lungs.  

Mr. Spotts went up on the stage, “Congratulations to Sanjey!  And let’s congratulate again our grade level winners, Jefferson Walker, Charlotte Morgan, and Maria Gonzalez.  Let’s have our grade level winners come down and stand with Sanjey so we can take your picture together.”

I stood next to Jefferson and Maria.  I smiled.  And I took a bow.  

Mrs. King’s class lined up to leave.  Gavin left the line.  He came to the stage and stuck his hand out at me, “Congratulations Charlotte, on being the runner-up.  You’ll be the winner next year for sure.”

I shook his hand, “Thanks Gavin.”

And with that, The Turing Elementary School Math Bee was finally over.

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