Farley’s Mathematical Adventures Farley Buys A Birthday Present Written By: Jenna Lowe

This is a story about a dog named Farley. Farley’s best friend is a brown boxer named Sunny. Farley and Sunny love to spend their days together playing in the sun…

wrestling in the grass…

…and taking naps.

Farley can’t play today though. Today is Sunny’s birthday, and Farley wants to buy her the best birthday present ever!

After spending time digging up all of his savings, Farley finds that he has 4 dollars, 4 quarters, 4 dimes and 2 nickels.

Confused, Farley goes to his mom and says “Mom, Sunny’s birthday is today and I’m going to buy her the best present ever. Can you tell me how much money I have?”

“Well Farley, lets see,” she says. = $ “You also have 4 quarters which are worth 25 cents each. It takes 4 quarters to make $1.00” $ = $1.00 “First off, you have 4 whole dollars.” “So, 4 dollars, plus 4 quarters which equal a dollar, gives me…five dollars,” Farley says. “But what about the dimes and nickels?” $ $1.00 = $5.00

“Well,” she says. A dime is worth 10 cents and a nickel is worth 5 cents.” = $0.10= $0.05 “If you have 4 dimes, then you have 40 cents in dimes.” $ = $0.40 “If you have 2 nickels, then you have 10 cents in nickels.” $ = $0.10

“So, Farley…altogether you have 4 dollars in dollar bills, 1 dollar in quarters, 40 cents in dimes, and 10 cents in nickels,” his mother says. $ $1.00 $0.40 $ $5.50 “That equals five dollars & fifty cents!”

With five dollars and fifty cents, Farley headed to the store.

When Farley got to the store, he found all sorts of things to buy for Sunny. There were clothes, treats, bones, collars, and even big bouncy balls.

Farley decided to look at the t-shirts first. He liked the green one, but he knew Sunny would like the pink one. Pink was Sunny’s favorite color. If Farley spent $2.50 on a shirt, how much would he have left to buy Sunny something else?

Farley thought back to what his Mom taught him about money before he left, “Lets see, I have 5 dollars and 50 cents.” $5.50 “If I spend 2 dollars and 50 cents, then I should have…” $5.50 $ $3.00 “Three dollars left over!” Farley concluded. 4 dollars 1 dollar 40 cents 10 cents 4 quarters = 1 dollar 4 dimes + 2 nickels = 50 cents 2 dollars = 50 cents $3.00

With three dollars left, Farley went to look at the dog bones. One display showed bones for 25 cents each. Another display showed bones that were 4 for 1 dollar. Farley thought…

“Mom said that each quarter equals 25 cents. It takes 4 quarters to make 1 dollar. If I bought from the first display I could get 4 bones for 1 dollar,” Farley said. $ = $1.00 “The second display sells bones that are 4 for 1 dollar. So I can buy 4 bones from either one, because both will cost me 1 dollar.” If Farley gets Sunny 4 bones to go with her t- shirt, how much money will he have left?

Farley has $3.00 left. Four bones will cost him four quarters. Four quarters is the same as one dollar. = $ If Farley spends $1.00 on bones, then he will have… $ $1.00 $ DOLLARS left to spend

With just two dollars left, Farley found his way to the other side of the store. There he found bouncy balls of all different sizes and big colorful gift boxes. He knew Sunny would love to have a new ball, but he still needed to buy a gift box to put all of the presents in. Could he get both?

The gift box was 1 dollar and 25 cents The bouncy ball was 75 cents $1.25$0.75 Farley thought… “Well, I have two dollars left…” “The gift box will cost me one dollar and one quarter.” “If I buy the gift box, then I will have 3 quarters left.” 123

“If I have 3 quarters left, then that gives me…” $ = $0.75 “That’s just how much the bouncy balls cost. That means I can get Sunny a bouncy ball and a colorful gift box to put all of her presents in!”

Farley had all of his presents for Sunny and was ready to check out. So, he carried everything to the front of the store to pay.

The lady at the cash register said… “That’s $2.50 for the pink t-shirt.” + $2.50 “Plus 1 dollar for 4 doggie bones.” + $1.00 “Plus 75 cents for the bouncy ball.” $ “Plus 1 dollar and 25 cents for this lovely gift box.” $1.25 $5.50 That will be five dollars and fifty cents,” she said. “I know!” said Farley as he handed her his money. “I already figured it all out.”

Farley grabbed Sunny’s presents and hurried back to her house. He just knew Sunny was going to be so happy when she opened her presents.

He was right. Sunny loved every one. Her and Farley celebrated and she had the best birthday ever!

After having fun with Sunny, Farley headed home. He was glad that Sunny liked her presents, but buying them for her had worn him out. He was tired of thinking about money. He was ready for a nap…

Inspired by my kids… Farley and Sunny!

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