Arthur’s Paper Pack

Arthur’s class was making scenery for a puppet performance. Mr Lane had counted one hundred and fifty-two sheets of coloured paper into a storage box. The class had used sixty-seven sheets on the first set. Beth looked at the next design. “How much paper is left?”

Arthur knew they could subtract sixty-seven from one hundred and fifty-two. He drew a place-value picture in his notebook. “There are only two ones,” he said. “I need to take away seven ones.” Beth pulled her chair closer so they could work through it together.

They exchanged one ten for ten ones. Now their picture showed one hundred, four tens and twelve ones. Arthur removed seven ones, leaving five. Next he needed to remove six tens, but only four tens were available. There was another exchange to think about.

Beth suggested exchanging the hundred for ten tens. Together with the four tens already there, that made fourteen tens. Taking away six tens left eight tens. With the five ones, the answer was eighty-five. Arthur wrote it beneath the drawing, then paused to check.

He started with eighty-five and added back the sixty-seven sheets used. Sixty more made one hundred and forty-five. Seven more made one hundred and fifty-two, their starting amount. Beth followed each step. “That takes us back to the number we started with,” she said. “So eighty-five sheets are left.”

A splash of paint had dampened a few scraps beside the scenery. Arthur moved the unused sheets to a dry shelf before they got wet too. Beth sorted the clean scraps into a tray. Some pieces were still large enough to make small flowers for the backdrop.

Mr Lane checked their drawing and listened to both explanations. The next set needed fewer than eighty-five sheets, so there was enough. Arthur noted the amount left on the storage box. Beth added a reminder to use the clean scraps before taking fresh paper.

During rehearsal, the puppet garden stood bright behind the stage. Arthur spotted the flowers Beth had made from scraps. Their calculation had helped the class plan the second set, and saving the smaller pieces had made the paper go further than they expected.