Math Problem of the Week - March

Word problem of the week as found in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics newsletter. Visit http://www.nctm.org/resources/elementary.aspx for other great ideas for using math at home.

Golf courses are familiar places for many children. Some live near a course or have relatives who play regularly. Others have watched tournaments on television with their families. If students in your classroom have not had these experiences or played
miniature golf themselves, have a short discussion about what students know about golf courses and the game of golf. Seeing photos from the Turkey Creek Golf Club (http://www.clubcorp.com/Clubs/Turkey-Creek-Golf-Club) or your local golf course
could be fun for them, too. Making connections with mathematics and the sport of golf brings life and excitement to fractions, geometry, rates, patterns, and graphing.

Week 1

K-2

The greens of a golf course are the flat areas with the shortest grass. Each green has 5 sprinkler heads to water it. How many sprinkler heads altogether are on the first 4 holes of the golf course? Record your mathematical thinking.
4-3head

The pump station at Turkey Creek Golf Club pumps 2200 gallons of water every minute. How many gallons are pumped in 30 minutes? How many gallons are pumped in 1 hour? If the pump station runs for 6 hours and 37 minutes per night to water the entire golf course, how many gallons are pumped in a week?
5-6

Four sizes of pipe are used to irrigate a certain golf course. The pipe out of the pump station has a 12-in. diameter. The next size down has a 10-in. diameter. The fi nal 2 sizes are 6 in. and 4 in., respectively. Draw circles to represent the pipes, and label the diameter and radius of each. Then fi nd the circumference and area of each of the 4 circles.