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NUMERACY
BUDDIES
QUESTION PACK
2020
Helping children realise their potential
through full participation in education.
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About Ardoch
Ardoch is an education charity focused on improving educational outcomes for children and young
people in disadvantaged communities. Our vision is to ensure that every child’s potential is realised
through full participation in education.
Multiple studies in Australia have demonstrated an unacceptable link between the socio-economic
status of students and their educational outcomes. One in three children in Australia’s most
disadvantaged communities start school developmentally vulnerable and they continue to fall behind as
they progress through school. We want to change this and we know we cannot do it alone.
Partnership is important to Ardoch. We partner with schools and early years services to deliver tailored
education support programs that aim to increase engagement in education, build aspirations, enhance
learning outcomes and increase the confidence of children and young people living in disadvantaged
communities. We mobilise community and workplace volunteers to support schools and early childhood
services. We also advocate for and seek to influence policy change to reduce inequity in education.
All of Ardoch’s programs focus on crossing the school gates, engaging students with opportunities to
learn from volunteers who bring a range of life experiences into the school and from targeted
excursions outside the school postcode.
We deliver programs that support literacy, science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and
which help to broaden the horizons of children and young people.
In 2018, Ardoch Youth Foundation was able to facilitate 1,718 volunteers in
to work with over 15,388 children at 105 school and early years sites.
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NUMERACY BUDDIES
Ardoch recognises the importance of STEM learning to the future of children in Australia. To ensure that children
in disadvantaged communities are prepared for STEM related jobs of the future, Ardoch has developed a suite of
programs that foster STEM skills in fun, engaging and relevant ways.
Numeracy Buddies
This program, which began in 2016, matches students (Little Buddies) with workplace volunteers (Big Buddies)
so that they can solve maths problems together through an online blog. It helps children improve their maths
skills by helping them verbalise key concepts, and by making maths an interactive and fun activity. It also builds
the aspirations of the students by introducing them to working role models, which they may lack in their usual
environment. The program runs over two terms and includes one visit at the Big Buddies’ workplace.
Numeracy Buddies provides an opportunity for workplaces to support the education of children in disadvantaged
communities. The program, together with Ardoch’s Literacy Buddies® Program was awarded the Innovation
Award at the 2016 Volunteering Victoria State Awards.
In 2018, Ardoch delivered 11 Numeracy Buddies programs to 11 schools in Victoria benefitting 219 students.
Outcomes included:
• Confidence: Development of school-study-work pathways and aspirations
• Academic: Numeracy skills, social and life skills
• Social: Strong relationships between Big and Little Buddies
• Engagement: Positive working role models for children
Victorian Curriculum Learning Outcomes:
• Use equivalent number sentences involving multiplication and division to find unknown quantities
(VCMNA193)
• Students solve simple problems involving the four operations using a range of strategies including
digital technology. They estimate to check the reasonableness of answers and approximate answers by
rounding
• Use efficient mental and written strategies and apply appropriate digital technologies to solve problems
(VCMNA185)
• Construct and use open and closed questions for different purposes (VCCCTQ010)
One teacher commented, “This program has connected the children with the real world. Consequently they know
that they can dream big and achieve because all problems can be solved.”
A workplace volunteer observed, “Getting to know my little buddy and working together to solve maths problems
not only help my little buddy to progress but also assisted with my own coaching skills.”
A student exclaimed, "…on the permission note it said we can see our big buddies at the end. YAY!!"
QUESTION BANK
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Teachers, please choose questions from the following question bank to set for your students to work on together
with their Big Buddy. You will find worded problems related to the Mathematics curriculum, covering: number and
place value, patterns and algebra, shape, time, fractions and decimals, money, units of measurement, location
and transformation, geometric reasoning, chance and data representation and interpretation.
Number and Algebra
1) Old Clarrie has three dogs. The oldest is Bob, next
comes Rex and Fido is the youngest. Fido is 10 years
younger than Bob, and none of the dogs are the same
age.
When Clarrie adds their ages together they come to 28
years. When Clarrie multiplies their age together, he gets
a number.
What is the smallest number this could be?
Answer:________________
2) Riverside Primary School has 235 staff and students. The whole school is going on an excursion,
by bus. Each bus can fit 50 people. What is the least number of buses they need for the whole
school excursion?
(A) 2 (B) 3 (C) 5 (D) 6 (E) 7
3) Helen is adding some numbers and gets the total 157. Then she realises that she has written one
of the numbers as 73 rather than 37. What should the total be?
(A) 110 (B) 121 (C) 124 (D) 131 (E) 751
4) In the year 3017, the Australian Mint recycled its coins to makenew coins. Each 50c coin was cut
into six trian gles, six squares, and one hexagon. The triangles were each worth 3c and the
Number and place value
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squares worth 4c.
How much would the value of the hexagon be to make a total still worth 50c?
5) In the year 3017, the Australian Mint recycled its coins to
makenew coins. Each 50c coin was cut into six trian gles, six
squares, and one hexagon. The triangles were each worth 3c and
the squares worth 4c.
How much would the value of the hexagon be to make a total still worth
50c?
(A) 3c (B) 8c (C) 18c
(D) 20c (E) 43c
1) In the year 3017, the Australian Mint recycled its coins to
makenew coins. Each 50c coin was cut into six trian gles, six
squares, and one hexagon. The triangles were each worth 3c
and the squares worth 4c.
2) Zara was riding her bike.
She came to a T-intersection in the road where she saw
this sign.
The road to Smithton passes through Marytown. How many kilometres is it from Marytown to Smithton?
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(A) 8 (B) 13 (C) 38 (D) 43 (E) 51
3) Jeremy is building a toothpick skyscraper.
Look at the picture (to the left) of the first floor. How many toothpicks will it take to build 12 stories? How many marshmallows will it take to build 12 stories?
Answer: ___________________
4) Use the cards Ace through to nine of a suit. Imagine somone has a secret 3-digit number. Use these
clues to find the number and the cards. There are 3 correct answers.
• The hundreds digit is half the ones digit. • The sum of the tens digit and the ones digit is nine.
Answer: ___________________ 5) Use the cards Ace through Nine of a suit. Imagine somone has a secret 5-digit number. Use these
clues to find the number and the cards.
• The ten thousands digit is three times the hundreds digit.
• The sum of the hundreds digit and the thousands digit is the ones digit.
• The thousands digit is two times the hundreds digit.
• The sum of all five digits is 31.
Answer: ___________________
6) Gavin wrote more postcards than Anna but fewer postcards than Gabby. Who wrote the most
postcards?
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Answer: ___________________
7) The silver skipping rope is longer than the purple skipping rope but shorter than the yellow skipping
rope. Which skipping rope is shorter, the yellow skipping rope or the purple skipping rope?
Answer: ___________________
8) 8 of the students in Sam’s class like to drink orange juice and 7 like to drink lemonade. 6 students
like to drink both orange juice and lemonade. How many students like to drink orange juice or
lemonade or both?
Hint: Copy and complete the Venn diagram below to help you solve the problem.
Answer: ________ students
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9) At the supermarket Ashan noticed that her favourite biscuits were on special, with one-third extra for
free in the packet.
If this special packet contained 24 biscuits, how many biscuits would be in the normal packet?
(A) 12 (B) 16 (C) 18 (D) 20 (E) 32
10) Fred gave half of his apples to Beth, and then half of what is left to Sally, leaving him with just one
apple. How many did he have to start with?
(A) 12 (B) 8 (C) 6 (D) 4 (E) 2
11) Five dice were rolled, and the results were as shown.
What fraction of the dice showed a two on top?
Fractions and decimals
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(A) 3/4 (B) 1/2 (C) 2/3
(D) 2/5 (E) 3/5
12) Rudy made 12 tarts and put almonds on three-fourths of them. How many tarts have almonds?
Answer: ___________________
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13) What fractions would you use to express the probabilities of each outcome when a dart is thrown?
REMEMBER: Probability is the likelihood a given outcome will occur. It is expressed as a fraction.
What is the probability that the next dart thrown hits a number that...
a)…has a 1 in the tens digit? b) …is a multiple of 4?
c) …has a pattern? d)…has a pattern?
e)…is less than 34?
f)…has a 2 in the tens digit?
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14) Ciara buys a cake ($25), 25 cupcakes ($0.75/ea) and 42 cookies ($0.50/ea) for her birthday party.
How much did Ciara spend for all these dessserts?
Answer: ___________________
15) Mr. Hansen buys a cupcake for each student in his class for the class party. Each cupcake costs
$1.25. However, there is a discount where for each batch of 10 cupcakes purchased, each cupcake
is $1. He buys 34 cupcakes. How much did Mr. Hansen pay for all 34 cupcakes?
Answer: ___________________
16) Max went to the local farmer’s market to buy some fresh produce. He bought bananas for 30 percent
off of $3.00. He also bought half a dozen apples for 40 percent off of $2.00. How much did he spend?
Answer: ___________________
17) Michelle went to the corner deli. She bought her sister a hot dog for $3.25, her brother a hamburger
for $4.20, and a vegetable stir fry for herself for $5.50. She also bought three large lemonades for
$1.50 each, but the lemonade was 50 percent off. How much did she spend?
Answer: ___________________
Money and financial mathematics
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18)
Solve the money math problems.
a) Nicholas wants to buy one dinner item and one dessert item for dinner. How many different possible meals are there?
________________________________________________________________________________________
b) Jody has $6.75. If she wants to buy one dinner item and one dessert item, what can she afford? Which dinner item and dessert item can buy for exactly $6.75?
________________________________________________________________________________________
c) Abby has a crisp new $20 on her. She just bought 4 tacos for herself and a paneer burrito for Nicholas.Does she have enough left over for an ice cream sandwich? What can she buy with the money left over?
FOOD TRUCK FESTIVAL!
Taco
$3$3 Burrito
$5
$
Cupcake
$2
Ice-cream
sandwich $4
Cup
$2.50
Cone
$3
Paneer
burrito
$4.75
Bahn
mi $5
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19) Julie has 5 steps up to her classroom, where 5 is the floor of the
classroom.
Each day she tries to think of a different way of climbing these
steps. She does not have to touch each step, but the biggest
distance she can reach is 3 steps.
How many different ways are there of going up the steps?
Answer:________________
20) It’s the day before Valentine’s Day and Shelley needs to get Valentine cards for all her classmates.
The desks in the classroom are arranged in 5 rows, with 7 desks in each row.
If there are 3 desks that are empty, how many students are in the class (including Shelley)? How
many cards will Shelley need to buy?
Answer: ___________________
21) Tara sent 48 e-mails on Friday, 57 e-mails on Saturday, 66 e-mails on Sunday, 75 e-mails on
Monday, and 84 e-mails on Tuesday. If this pattern continues, how many e-mails will Tara send on
Wednesday?
Answer: ___________________
22) Jodie is dividing cherries among some bowls. She put 19 cherries in the first bowl, 22 cherries in the
second bowl, 26 cherries in the third bowl, 31 cherries in the fourth bowl, and 37 cherries in the fifth
bowl. If this pattern continues, how many cherries will Jodie put in the sixth bowl?
Answer: ___________________
Patterns and algebra
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Measurement and Geometry
23) Roza and her sister watched an action movie that was 2 hours and 35 minutes long. After the movie,
they played soccer in the backyard for 2 hours and 45 minutes. When they came in from playing
soccer, it was 2.35 P.M. What time did Roza and her sister start watching the movie?
11.50 A.M. 2.30 P.M. 1.35 P.M. 9.15 A.M.
24) Carmen and her friends decided to have a water fight on a hot summer day. They filled a bunch of
water balloons and started the fight at 11.35 A.M. The water balloon fight lasted for 35 minutes.
When all the water balloons were gone, they sprayed water at each other with hoses for 45 minutes,
until Carmen’s dad showed up with ice cream. What time was it when the water fight ended?
12.25 P.M. 12.55 P.M. 12.40 P.M. 11.35 A.M.
25) Ying’s math class starts at 10.30 A.M. and lasts for 30 minutes. After math class, Ying has recess
for 30 minutes. What time does Ying’s recess end?
11.45 A.M. 11.15 A.M. 10.30 A.M. 11.30 A.M.
26) Mai finished painting her porch at 4.25 P.M. The instructions said she should wait at least 15 hours
to paint the trim. What is the earliest time when she could start painting them?
Answer: ________________
Using units of measurement: TIME
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27) John took 1 hour and 35 minutes to drive from Town A to Town B. Jason left from Town A at the
same time but arrived in Town B 38 minutes later. How long did it take Jason to drive from Town A
to Town B?
Answer:________________
28) On Monday a painter spent 6 hours 20 minutes to paint a building. On Tuesday the painter spent 4
hours 45 minutes to finish painting the building . How long did the painter spend to paint the building?
Answer:________________
29) Zhipu has an unusual construction set consisting of square tiles which only
connect together if they are joined with half a side touching. That is, the
corner of one connects with the midpoint of the other, as in the diagram.
In how many ways can he connect three tiles? (Two arrangements are not
different if they can be rotated or reflected to look the same).
Answer:________________
Location and transformation
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Statistics and Probability
30) Work out the probability of each of the following possibilities when you spin the wheel below.
31) In the word “BANANA”, what is the letter that would most likely be picked at random?
Answer: ___________________
Chance
a) What is the probability that the arrow will point to "soccer ball"?
b) What is the probability that the arrow will point to "no prize"?
c) What is the probability that the arrow will point to "free spin"?
d) What is the probability that the arrow will point to "prize"?
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1. 468
2. (C) 5
3. (B) 121
4. (B) 8c
5. (A) 8
6. 480 & 192
7. 172, 254, 418
8. 96349
9. Gabby
10. Purple
11. 9
12. (C) 18
13. (D) 4
14. (E) 3/5
15. 9
16. a) 1/6 b) 1/6 c) 2/6 d) 1/6 e) 4/6 f) 2/6
17. $ 64.75
18. $ 35
19. $3.30
20. $15.20
21. a) 16 b) Paneer Burrito & a Cupcake c) No. All other desserts
22. 13
23. 31
24. 93
25. 44
26. 9.15 am
27. 12.55 pm
28. 11.30 am
29. 7.25 am
30. 2 hrs 13 mins
31. 11 hrs 5 mins
32. 3 combinations of tiles
33. a) 1/4 b) 1/8 c) 3/8 d) 1/4
34. A
Answers
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