Word Problem

Remember those things from your math classes?  I always  liked numbers, but didn't like word problems. I guess I didn't need to be convinced that it was important to learn to add, subtract, etc.

This morning as I was working on the first of the blankets for the babies that will be baptized at Grace Church, I thought that project would provide a good word problem.

Here it is:
Grandmother plans to knit a baby blanket, She wants to have nine squares, each with a different design. She will do them in three tiers of three squares each. Since knitting stitches are wider than they are tall, each square will have 29 stitches per row and 42 rows.

She plans to have seed stitch borders on all sides, as well as seed stitch 'ribbons' between the squares. The top and bottom borders will each be sixteen rows, and the 'ribbons' between the tiers will be ten rows each. The side borders will be ten stitches each, and the 'ribbons' between the columns will be seven stitches each.

1) How many stitches should Grandmother cast on?

2) How many rows will there be?

3) How many stitches will there be in each square?

4) What is the total stitch count?

5) If each stitch requires 3/4 inch of yarn, how many yards of yarn will Grandmother need to complete the blanket?

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What do you think? Are there enough things that might confuse kids if they are not reading carefully? I plan to give it to Lexi to see what she thinks. And how well she can do it. I'll ask her to show her work - no using a calculator. In my opinion, calculators should definitely NOT be used in elementary school.

Medical:

I visited my family doctor today to get a new prescription for my blood pressure medication. I caught her up on my medical stuff since I saw her early last August. She had received reports on some of it, but not everything. In addition to the prescription, she gave me a list of bloodwork she wants the Cancer Group to do on my next visit there (4/13). Most of it is stuff they do routinely, of course, but there may be a couple of things they don't always check.