Math Monday: Dental Care (Again)

Back in February 2009, I began putting this unit together, but never got past the first day.  I am going to finally finish the unit this week.  I will not be including elementary math in today's post, but will instead include the link to the 2009 post and just post a couple of word problems for the older students.


Word Problems

- You saved all the money that the Tooth Fairy brought you since you lost your first tooth.  Your last tooth just fell out.  The Tooth Fairy will bring you $1.50 tonight, just as she has done each time you lost a previous tooth.  Most people lose a total of 20 baby teeth.  How much money will you have after the Tooth Fairy visits tonight?  Now imagine you took that money and put it in a savings account.  If the account you choose pays you 3% interest, how much money will you have at the end of the year?

- Uh oh!  You just visited the dentist for a cleaning and they found 2 cavities.  It will take about 45 minutes to have each cavity filled and they will need to be done on different days.  If it takes 15 minutes to drive each way to the dentist, how much time will you need to spend in order to get both cavities filled.

Math Monday: Dental Care

In honor of Febraury being Children's Dental Health Month, we will be studying dental care this week.

Counting/Arithmetic
- Count how many teeth are in your mouth. How many are on top? How many on the bottom? Add the two numbers together.

- SoftSchool.com has a neat way to include math and vocabulary.


Graphing
- Interview your friends and young family members to find out how many of their baby teeth have fallen out so far. Make a bar chart to show your results. You could also do this by asking people what their favorite flavor of toothpaste is.

- Keep a tally chart of how many times you can brush your teeth with one tube of tooth paste. Start the chart when you open a new tube of tooth paste and make one tally each time you brush your teeth.

- Create a chart to remind you to brush twice a day and floss once. Be sure to fill in your chart as you do each thing.