elementary math poem: division dog

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My Dog Division

I knew it was really,
A silly decision,
To get a new dog,
And name him Division...

Division ain't average,
Like other ole' mutts,
He doesn't eat food,
No ands, ifs, or buts...
He's sick! yelled my Mom,
He's ill, said my Dad,
He's perfectly fine,
He's really quite glad...
He doesn't eat food,
He never does that,
He lives on his quotients,
They keep him quite fat...
The first day I gave him,
4 pieces of treat,

I came home that day,
He'd had nothing to eat!!
He'd divided his treats,
Into 2 equal parts..
2 treats in each pile,

My dog had math smarts!!
The next day, I put out,
More and more biscuit,
9 treats in his bowl,

A lot, but I'd risk it...
But when I returned,
He'd eaten not one,
3 piles of 3,

My dog was not dumb!!!
I shouted and shouted,
Division...go eat!!!
I screamed,
And yelled,
I would not take defeat!
I poured 36,
Small pieces of steak,
Into his dog bowl,
And left him a cake...

But when I returned,
Had he eaten the beef?
Nope!!!

6 piles of 6...
My dog was no dope!!!
The cake was all gone,
And that's the sweet-truth,
I think, Division,
Has a sweet-tooth...
Division, I said,
What are we gonna do?
If you keep finding quotients,
There won't be a you!!!
We must travel down,
Some other pet-path,
Now Division is learning,
Some new types of math!!!

click here for this poem's lesson plan

Math Challenges

Can you think of other ways dog Division could have arranged the 36 pieces of steak in to equal piles?

What do you think dog Division would have done with a pile of 13 dog treats?

If dog Divsion had made 8 piles of treats with 7 treats in each pile, how many treats did Division start with?

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