Mini-Lessons ◆ 135Large flying foxes are the largest bats
in the world. They live in colonies,
sometimes with 10,000 to 20,000 in one
colony. They fly up to 50 km (or 31
miles) to eat in one night.These fascinating creatures are called
megabats and have a face like a fox
and the body of a bat. They weigh
between 0.65–1.1 kg or 1.4–2.4 lbs.
They have a wingspan of up to 1.5 m
or 4 ft. 11 in.Questions:If a group of bat scientists found 5
colonies with around 20,000 bats in
each, about how many bats would
they have seen?If the flying fox traveled 31 miles each
night for 7 nights, how far would he
have traveled in a week?There were 3 flying foxes. The first
fox weighed 0.79 kg. The second fox
weighed 0.50 more than the first.
The third fox weighed 0.10 less than
the first bat. Make a bar diagram to
illustrate the differences in the bats’
weight. How much did they weigh
altogether?Word problem tic-tac-toe is another way to get students working with
word problems. It is a game of tic-tac-toe with a twist. The students have
to answer word problems to get an X or O in the squares (see
Figure 8.6).
Figure 8.6 Word Problem Tic-Tac-Toe
The first American
soccer league, the USSA,
paid its players 35 cents
for every goal scored.
If someone scored 7 goals,
how much did they make?A professional soccer
player runs around 6
miles in an average
soccer game. If a team
practices 5 days a week for
4 weeks, about how far has
a soccer player run?The first official set of
soccer rules was written
in 1863, although the
game dates back over
2000 years ago to China.
How many years ago were
those rules written?
The World Cup is
the biggest soccer
tournament in the world.
It happens every 4 years.
If there was one in 1998,
when will the next one be?The rules state that
soccer must be played on
a rectangular field that
is between 100 and 130
yards long and between
50 and 100 yards wide.
What is a possible area of
a field?Kid’s soccer balls cost
$9.99 each. How much
would 7 soccer balls cost?More than one billion
fans watch World Cup
soccer on TV. Can you
write that number?Soccer cleats cost $64.78
each. How much would 8
pairs of soccer cleats cost?The Women’s United
Soccer Association
played its first game in- How many years has
it been around?