Math with Money

by Mari

Today I learned about coins and how much makes a dollar. Our first thing about math making dollars is:

100 pennies makes $1 (count by 1's)
20 nickels makes $1 (count by 5's)
10 dimes makes $1 (count by 10's)
4 quarters makes $1 (count by 25's)

You use cents at banks, stores, gas stations, restaurants. That's where you use coins and dollars. It's important to know about money and it's fun to learn about money, so you can give the right amount of money to the places and you don't lose a lot of money.

Mystery Guest from Iowa

We had the pleasant experience of having a Mystery Guest help us to learn more about the state we studied today. A family friend of a neighbor of ours is from Iowa. She appeared at our door, moments after we came up with these questions for her. Thomas and Mari shared the task of creating and asking the questions. Here is a short synopsis of what they covered:

Where in Iowa did you live?
in a town called Decorah - population 9,000 which is in Winnesheik County, only 15 minutes south of Minnesota. It's a two and a half hours from Minnetonka.

Did you live on a farm?
Nope. 2 miles outside of the town, but not on a farm. We were surrounded by farms, though.

Did you ever pick corn when you were little?
Yes. Hard work, but fun! With my cousins. It was a whole day process, 3 hours picking and 3 hours of shucking. Which was about 2 pickups full. Then we prepared it for freezing. One of my favorite smells is corn growing in the summertime!

What are the Amana Colonies like?
I've never been there. What I know about them:old time living. You can watch a lot of people make things by hand.

Have you ever been to Des Moines? Is it like Saint Paul?
Yes I've been there. It is not like St. Paul. Des Moines is not the nicest capital city in my opinion. It is industrial and not very clean. They should clean it up more!

What can you tell us about Buffalo Bill?
Not a lot, what did you learn? All I can think of was that he had a wild west show.

Have you seen the "American Gothic" by Grant Wood? (Iowan)
I've seen prints of it. Copy of it.

Have you been in or seen the biggest popcorn factory in the nation? Tell us about it?
I haven't seen it. Where is it?

What does West Okoboji Lake look like?
I've only driven by it.It is in the far NW corner and I haven't spent a lot of time in that area.

Have you been to the other 2 blue-water lakes?
No. What are they? Lake Geneva in Switzerland and Lake Louise in Canada.

What is your favorite city in Iowa?
Hmmmmmm..... I really, really, really like my hometown. I like Decorah a lot. The scenery is just beautiful. Eastern and Western Iowa look very different. E has river running through it and is really hilly. Western is very flat.

Thanks to our Mystery Guest, we practiced our interviewing skills and learned about a new state!