Hey Twilight fans: this is Edward's "fancy" car

Desk duck watching the fountian show at the Bellagio

No, I'm not in Paris

Cool Building

I'm not sure this will work, but here is a video of snack time.

Check out this strange lap

Can you caluclate the sales tax in Las Vegas?

Snack time!

Tornado?

Shopping at Tiffany's

This is way better than the kid's pool back home!

It's too bad the temperature is only 44 degrees outside, this place looks like it could be fun for a duck. What is the weather like back home?

I hope they brought their snow shovels!

How far?!?

Mrs. Elletson just broke the news to me that Vegas is pretty far away. I looked on a map to try and estimate the amount of time we will be traveling, but she told me that doesn't really help because we are flying on a plane. (Doesn't she remember how I get airsick? I'm more of a floating duck and less of a flying one.) I'm trying to get her and Dane to reconsider this whole flying thing, but she told me the time estimate on the map doesn't include breaks, eating, or sleeping. Can you help me figure out how long it would take to travel by car? I think we should stop and rest for 15 minutes every 3 hours, eat on the go to save time, and bunk down for 9 hours overnight. If we travel 60 miles per hour, when would we arrive?

Heading for the airport!

After a yummy breakfast, I'm off to Kansas City! Mrs. Elletson is busy reading her book, trying to meet her reading goal for the year. Rumor has it that she'll give an update her progress after the new year.

Desk Duck Goes to Vegas

Desk Duck will be traveling over break to see John Mayer in concert. He'll be keeping you updated on all the important math problems he runs into while on his trip. Feel free to post comments and ask questions!

Thanksgiving Dilemma

I'm hosting twelve people for Thanksgiving dinner (including myself). Of the twelve people who will be eating dinner, five will be drinking milk (Alex, Noah, Jenna, Rachel, and Julie). Everyone else will be drinking iced tea. (Grandma, Grandpa, Carrie, Kyle, Jordan, Dane, and myself). I don't have a lot of space in the fridge so I don't want to overbuy or overmake the drinks. I also don't want anyone to go thirsty.

How much of each kind of drink should I plan on buying or making? Use estimation to help you decide. Please explain your thinking. :)

96 hours later...

Cool Website!

Check out the cool website Mr. Cooper just sent me. It's all about cell size and scale factor.

Click here.

Mr. Cooper's Giant Skeleton

Mr. Cooper's growing skeleton started off at a height of 23.5 cm.

One student predicted the skeleton would be 141 cm tall in 96 hours.

Does this seem possible? What might the 600% represent?

Dollhouse Challenge Pictures

Can our little family go bowling?

Mr. Cooper has generously lent us his real-life bowling pin as a reference point for our tiny bowling pin set. Using what you know about the dollhouse, talk to me about if this bowling set is appropriate for our tiny house.

Quotes that are blown out of proportion...

Here is a quote from the book Laura recommended: The Two Princess of Barmarre.

"I'm a bit older than you are, but not a great deal older. I'm seventy-eight. If I were human, I'd be just about seventeen."

My birth date is May 9, 1978. Can you tell me how "old" I'd be if I were in this guy's family?

Just how tall is a house?

As part of our Dollhouse Challenge, you'll need to determine the scale factor between a real house and a doll house. I'm 5 feet 3 3/4 inches. Can you estimate the height of my house? It can be a little tricky with a split level, so be sure to talk about how you're making your measurements.

Comic Relief: Liam

Dollhouse Challenge

So, my little Alex loves his new dollhouse, but he has one small problem. Can you use the materials I've brought to class to create furniture that fits his house? Be creative and resourceful. (oh, and be mathematical) Prove that your additions fit using what you know about scale factor and proportion. One last rule: Only recycled materials allowed! :)

My Reading Goal

Last year I set a New Year's goal of reading 200 books or 60,000 pages. I had just finished a nice long winter break full of great reads, so when I made my goal I think I may have overestimated. It's October 13th and I've only read 76 books! I've been keeping track of my books and my page numbers in my reading journal. So far, my cummulative page number is 27,838. I'm hoping to finish my current book tonight, so I can start reading the book Larua recommened during SSR time tomorrow. Currently, I'm on page 284 of 353. When I finish, I will have read 77 books this year. If I finish this book tonight, how many pages will I have to average on a daily basis to meet my goal on December 31st? How many books will I have left to read? If I'm only concerned with meeting my goal, what kind of page-lengths should I look for when I pick my books? Can you tell me the average number of pages I've read each day up to this point? Can you tell me the average number of books per week? Most importantly, do you have any reading suggestions?!?

Snack Mix

Alex is taking snack mix to his sleep over party. Can you figure out how much one serving costs?
Here are the details:
Cheese Nips $1.98
HyVee Fruit Rings $1.72
HyVee Rice Cereal $2.18
Teddy Grahams $2.99
Goldfish $2.19
Peanuts $4.48
Pretzels $2.50
Candy Corn $2.58
M&M's $3.77
Skittles $2.67

I used 2 cups of all the ingredents, except for the Rice Cereal and Cheese Nips. (Those each have 4 cups). If a serving size is 1/2 cup how many servings did I make and how much would each cost?

Mental Mento Math by Colleen

Please welcome our first guest writer!!

Note: Try to do all of these problems mentally. Writing down the answers to keep them straight in your head is alright, but do the problems in your head.

You are on a long road trip. The boredom is starting to get to you. To pass the time, you take stock of what food you have. You have 5 carrots, 10 apples and a package with 15 rolls of Mentos.

Being a dedicated math student, you decide to figure out how many Mentos you can have. Here are the facts you know:

• Each roll of Mentos has 14 Mentos in it
• You are sharing the Mentos with 2 other people
• You have 20 hours of driving
• You will have two meals in those 20 hours, each 45 minutes long (you will not be eating Mentos during this time, nor will you need a Mento for 15 minutes after the meal)
• 5 Mentos have already been eaten

You want to make the Mentos last until you reach your destination. Now figure out:

• How many Mentos do you get total?
• How many Mentos can you have per hour?
• How long would you need to make a Mento last so you don't go 5 minutes without having a Mento in your mouth?

Extra Brain Stretchers

2 hours into your trip, you eat one of the apples. Now you are full for half an hour. To still finish all of the Mentos by the time you reach your destination, how many should each person get?

4 hours into the drive, you are stopped by road construction. You stay there for an hour and a half, and eat the same amount of Mentos that you would in 2 hours, as does everybody else. Now how many Mentos per hour does each person get?

15 hours into the drive, you fall asleep for 25 minutes. During that time, your sister sneaks a Mento per every 5 minutes you are asleep. Now how many Mentos does everyone get per hour?

Half an hour from your destination, you stop at a gas station and your sister buys a Snickers bar. She says that you and your father (who is driving) can split the remander of her Mentos. To finish all of the Mentos in time, how many Mentos do you and your father have to each eat?

Grading, Grading, Grading! When will I be finished?

It just took me 32 minutes to grade Core 1's warm-up papers. There are 22 students in this class. There are 20 kids in Core 2, 20 in Core 3, and 24 in Core 4. Two kids were absent today. How much longer will I be grading? It's 5:29pm, will I finish in time to watch the beginning of "So You Think You Can Dance" at 7:00pm?

*P.S. I'm making a Tom paper for tomorrow...You're gonna love it!

How Much Did My Dinner Cost?

My Task: To take these items and make Roasted Sweet Potato and Apple Soup.

Your Task: To figure out how much dinner costs.

The details:

Granny Smith Apples 0.81 lb @ $1.48/lb (but I only used one!)
Sweet Potato 2.8 lbs @ $1.28/lb
Yellow Onions 0.45lb @ $0.79/lb
Celery $1.18 for a bunch, I only used 1 of the 10 stalks

The following recipe will make enough to serve 8 people. Dane and I were the only ones enjoying this masterpiece and we each had one serving. How much did last night's dinner cost?

The recipe (From Real Simple/October 2008) I know, I'm a little behind the times...
3 lbs sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, sliced
1 apple thinly sliced
salt & pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Prick the potatoes with a fork, place on baking sheet, and roast until tender, 40 to 45 minutes. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery, and apple and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 10 to 12 minutes. Halve the potatoes, scoop out the flesh, and add to the saucepan. Add 6 cups of water, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Cook until heated through, 8 to 10 minutes. Puree the soup in an blender. Work in batches. Add water, if necessary, to reach the desired consistency.