Math Libs 4th Grade Skills

Compare numbers up to 1,000,000 (4.NBT.2)

A Blast of a Field Trip Excerpt:

Zoe has always wanted to be an astronaut. So does William who wants to be the pilot, and Amara, who wants to be the first chef on board. Let’s see how they do in training.

  1. The get inside a “centrifuge,” a round room that spins the astronauts really fast to press them against the wall, so it feels like takeoff. Eli sets the spinner to 700 spins a minute for Zoe and 1,100 spins a minute for William. Which astronaut in training will spin faster?

Surprise School Zoo Excerpt:

It turns out that all kinds of wild creatures live behind the school. You all just didn’t know that because the animals come out only at night…

  1. Xavier discovers that at 9 pm, these flying cheetahs come out of the sky and land in the parking lot. Tonight there were 561 cheetahs. How many is that to the nearest hundred?

Our Own School of Rock Excerpt:

You didn’t know this, but last year Silas, Maria, Omar and Millie formed a band, Glow-in-the-Dark Penguins. They’ve been putting on their unmellow yellow leather jackets and rocking out with their wild strawberry guitars…

  1. Silas orders 4,800 GITD penguin t-shirts, but already 8,657 people say they want to buy one. Would ordering another 4,000 have been enough for everyone?

Big Birthday Bash Excerpt:

It’s Luca’s birthday, so Eva is going to throw a birthday party – during math class. Eva tells your teacher that the party is a math lesson!…

  1. Charlie buys the balloons and picks up 2 boxes of electric lime party hats to go with them. Each box has 10 packs with 6 hats per pack. How many hats do we have?

A New Kind of Bull-Riding Excerpt:

The school is holding its first bull-riding competition! The problem is, no one owns a bull. So Kayden plans to ride a meerkat, and Adalynn will ride a koala bear

  1. Kayden rides the snorting, bucking meerkat for 21 seconds. Adalynn hangs onto the barking, kicking koala bear for 5 times as long! How long does Adalynn hang on?

Clean Your Room! Excerpt:

Fourth graders aren’t always so neat, and Axel is no different: Axel’s room is a MESS. And it got worse after the playdate with Ruby

  1. The room is a rectangle 11 feet by 12 feet. How many square feet do Axel and Ruby have to clean up?

Car Wash of Doom Excerpt:

…The thing is, nobody has actually washed a car before. No one can find the soap. And Sarah and Landon seem to think “car wash” means “water fight”…  

  1. In a surprise attack, Landon dumps 72 gallons of water on Sarah. If it took 9 full buckets to do this, how much water did the bucket hold?

Some Like It Hot Excerpt:

Lila and Miles both say they can eat hotter salsa than anyone else. So it’s time for a salsa contest…

  1. Dominic chops 14 ghost peppers and 9 reapers for the salsa. Each one weighs 4 ounces. How many ounces of hot pepper go into the pot?

Brownie Bakeoff Excerpt:

Hannah is trying a new brownie recipe that mixes in bits of chicken nuggets instead of chocolate chips. Parker’s brownie is even better, with chopped-up pickles. Let’s see if these treats can sell.

  1. To wow everyone, Parker mixes in 3/4 cup pickles AND 3/5 cup french fries. Did the brownies use more pickles or french fries?

Eye-Popping Paint Excerpt:

The students have a plan: to paint the whole outside of the school in neon colors. If it hurts to look at it, maybe the teachers won’t show up and then everyone gets a day off!..

  1. Parker paints 1/2 of a wall bright mango tango and Amari paints 1/3 of it an equally bright laser lemon. How much of the wall has been painted so far?

The Ice Hotel Excerpt:

The class is taking a trip to the famous Ice Hotel in Quebec, Canada. The whole hotel is made of gleaming blocks of blue ice – and every room has a cool ice sculpture…

  1. Sean is making a furry-looking ice whale. It’s only 3/5 as tall as Elliana’s koala sculpture, which is 30 inches tall. How tall is the whale?

Pet Contest Excerpt:

It’s the big Pet Contest, and of course your school has some pretty wacky pets. Hudson is bringing a pet sloth that hisses like a snake. But Josie is bringing a furry magenta capybara

  1. In the first event, Hudson’s sloth runs the hurdles in 12.40 seconds. Josie’s magenta capybara runs them in 10.91 seconds. Which pet ran faster?

Top Chef: Taco Night Excerpt:

Miles is going to compete on Top Chef! This episode is Taco Night, and Miles is making gourmet peanut butter and jelly tacos topped with brussell sprouts

  1. Mile’s ingredients together weigh 5.64 pounds. But Eva, who’s making asparagus tacos, has ingredients weighing just 0.8 of that. How much do Eva’s ingredients weigh?

Catapult Club Excerpt:

…The class holds a catapult-building contest: Whose catapult can throw stuff the farthest? And which stuff flies the best? Enzo is sure that throwing a stuffed animal armadillo will win. But Savannah and Rowan have other plans.

  1. In the first round, Enzo catapults the stuffed armadillo 40 yards. What fraction of a mile did it fly?