Maple Syrup Farmer Math

In an effort to make math more interesting for kids and to make my kids understand that math really is important, I have started a series of Farmer Math questions to go along with the Flat Aggie reports.  These are patterned after the blog Bedtime Math.  Some of the questions are easy enough for pre-schoolers and sometimes I come up with some to even challenge high school seniors.

These questions follow the report  Flat Aggie Visits Battel's Sugar Shack.  Additional educational materials can be found in the post Battels Sugar Bush Learn More.

1.)  Flat Aggie helps tap 12 trees in the morning and 12 trees in the afternoon.  How many trees did she tap in one day?  How many trees could she tap in 2 days?

2.)    Flat Aggie is helping to figure out how much tubing is needed to get the sap back to the shack.  The tubing will go directly from the tree to the shack.  The trees are 25 feet, 75 feet and 83 feet from the shack.  How much tubing will be needed?

3.)    Flat Aggie drilled holes that were 3/16 inch in diameter.  Is that larger or smaller than 3/8 inch?  Is that larger or smaller than ½ inch.   

4.)    1 gallon of sap is 98% water and 2% sugar.  How many ounces of sugar are in a gallon of sap?  (Round to the nearest whole number.)

5.)    1 gallon of syrup is 33% water.  How many ounces of sugar are in a gallon of syrup?  (Round to the nearest whole number.)

1.)    24 trees, 48 trees  2.)  183 feet  3.) smaller than ¼ inch, smaller than ½ inch  4.) 3 ounces  5.)86 ounces

If you are a teacher or homeschooler that would like more information to go with the Flat Aggie reports, send me a message on my contact form.  Along with the report and the Farmer Math questions, we send each teacher an additional page of activities, crossword puzzles and sometimes a few hands on activities.

-A Kansas Farm Mom