Name: _______________________

Getting Ready for a New School Year

Math Story by Claudette J. Young
James Cotter's mother is a third grade teacher. One August
morning, she was going to school to set up her classroom for a new
school year.
She looked at James and asked, Would you like to help!
James smiled. "e lo#ed helping his mother set up her classroom.
When he walked in, James looked at the door to the
classroom. $here was a sign that read, Welcome to %oom &'(.!
"is mother's new class will ha#e twel#e students in it. $here were two
)ig, round ta)les. *ach ta)le had the same num)er of chairs and
there were e+actly enough chairs for his mother's class.
"e helped her with the supplies for each child. ,n front of each chair he placed one coloring
page that said, Welcome -ack to School.!
%ight )eside each coloring page, James placed one agenda )ook at each seat. James
looked at his mother and asked, Are these for writing down homework assignments! "is mother
nodded.
After that, he placed three )ookmarks in front of each chair. $he )ookmarks had pictures of
/oo animals. *ach student had an elephant, a tiger, and a giraffe )ookmark. James look at his
mother and said, 0our students will lo#e these. $he giraffe looks funny.!
1e+t James put a )o+ of twenty2four new crayons and a pair of rounded scissors at each seat.
At the last chair, he had a )o+ with only fi#e crayons in it and no scissors. 3om,! James yelled, 0ou
need more crayons and scissors.!
$hen he placed two )rand new glue sticks in front of each chair. When he got to the last seat,
there were no glue sticks left.
James went )ack to the supply )o+ to get pencils. James' mother said, *ach student gets
two.! "e pulled out the pencils and counted them. $here were only fifteen pencils. James said to his
mother, $here aren't enough. 0ou'll need to )uy some more pencils too.!
"e thought a)out the missing items. "e spied his school )ackpack on the floor )y the desk.
James opened his pack and )egan to look for what his mother needed.
"e found enough pencils, scissors, and crayons. "e put the items from his )ackpack on the
ta)les. James said to his mother, 1ow all of your students ha#e e+actly the right amount school
supplies. 0ou won't ha#e to go to the store.!
James' mother answered, "ow wonderful. 3y students ha#e all of their supplies now, )ut , still
ha#e to go to the store.! James looked confused. "is mother then said, 1ow , ha#e to )uy more
school supplies for my son.!
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Name: _______________________
Getting Ready for a
New School Year
Math Story by Claudette J. Young
Use information from the story to answer the questions.
Show your work in the space to the right.
1. How many students will be seated at each
table?
answer: ___________________
2. How many bookmarks did James place
on the tables?
answer: ___________________
3. When James passed out the crayons, he
didn't have enough How many more crayons
did James need?
answer: ___________________
4. James didn't have enough glues sticks either
How many glue sticks did James put on the tables
be!ore he took some out o! his backpack?
answer: ___________________
5. How many pencils did James remove !rom his
backpack !or his mothers' class?
answer: ___________________
6. How many pairs o! scissors did James remove
!rom his backpack !or his mother's class?
answer: ___________________
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ANSWER EY
Getting Ready for a
New School Year
Math Story by Claudette J. Young
Use information from the story to answer the questions. Show
your work in the space to the right.
1. How many students will be seated at each
table?
answer: 6 12 ! 2 " 6
note# $% &tudent& ha'en(t been taught d)')&)on yet* they +an &ol'e th)& by dra,)ng a -)+ture.
2. How many bookmarks did James place
on the tables?
answer: 36 12 . 12 . 12 " 36
3. When James passed out the crayons, he
didn't have enough How many more crayons
did James need?
answer: 1/ 24 0 5 " 1/
4. James didn't have enough glues sticks either
How many glue sticks did James put on the tables
be!ore he took some out o! his backpack?
answer: 22 24 0 2 " 22
5. How many pencils did James remove !rom his
backpack !or his mothers' class?
answer: / 24 0 15 " /
6. How many pairs o! scissors did James remove
!rom his backpack !or his mother's class?
answer: 1 12011 " 1
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