Alice’s Ribbon Rescue

Alice was making ribbon decorations for the park fair. Aunt May had brought thirty-four short ribbons in a box. Sixteen decorations were needed for the first stall. “How many ribbons will we have left?” asked Yusuf. Alice reached for some paper.

She drew three tens and four ones to stand for the ribbons. “I need to take away sixteen,” she said. “One ten and six ones.” Yusuf looked at the four ones. There were not enough to take six away from that group.

“You can open a ten,” said Aunt May. Alice untied one bundle of ribbons. Now she had two tens and fourteen ones. Yusuf counted to check. Nothing had been added. Thirty-four was still there, arranged in a different way.

Alice took away six single ribbons. Fourteen ones became eight ones. Then she took away one bundle of ten. One ten and eight ones remained. “Eighteen,” she said. Yusuf set the sixteen ribbons aside for the first stall.

Before they started tying, they checked the answer. Yusuf put the sixteen ribbons back beside the eighteen. Alice counted on from eighteen. Ten more made twenty-eight, and six more made thirty-four. Their two groups made the original amount.

Aunt May showed them how to tie each ribbon into a bow. Alice’s first knot slipped, so she tried again. Yusuf held the next ribbon steady. Soon a bright row of decorations was ready for the stallholder to collect.

They put the eighteen unused ribbons into a smaller box. Alice added a note so the next stallholder would know what was inside. “We have enough for another idea,” she said. Yusuf suggested decorating the welcome basket.

At the fair, Alice spotted their ribbon decorations on the stall. She showed Yusuf the smaller box behind the table. “Opening that ten helped,” she said. “The amount stayed the same, but it was much easier to take sixteen away.”