Math Club

For the past couple of months Ariel has been a member in the Math Club at her school. The first month was open to everyone, and then they had an elimination test. Ariel was one of the 6 final 5th graders who passed. The club meets twice a week where they learn various math problems and other things. At the end of this month there is a special "Sum Day" where they will all compete against other 4th and 5th graders. It's been quite enriching for her!

Today I got a small taste of her homework; one of the problems they were assigned to complete. I enjoyed working the problem out with her so much I wanted to share it with you here.

(Ariel's teacher changed the original problem to be better suited for the students. Instead of brands of cigarettes, she switched them to hobbies.)

Here's the problem:


Who Owns the Zebra?
1. There are five houses, each of a different color and inhabited by men of different nationalities, with different pets, drinks, and hobbies.

2. The Englishman lives in the red house.

3. The Spaniard owns the dog.

4. Coffee is drunk in the green house.

5. The Ukrainian drinks tea.

6. The green house is immediately to the right of the white house.

7. The golfer owns snails.

8. The photographer lives in the yellow house.

9. Milk is drunk in the middle house.

10. The Norwegian lives in the first house on the left.

11. The tennis player lives in the house next to the man with the fox.

12. The photographer lives in the house next to the house where the horse is kept.

13. The gardener drinks orange juice.

14. The Japanese man likes to paint.

15. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.

NOW.. Who owns the zebra... AND Who drinks the water?

I've included a worksheet if you want to print it out. We used it to take our notes on.


We systematically went down the list and crossed off all the things that didn't apply, and circled when we found a match. We also got some crayons out and colored in the houses as we figured out their color. Some things were very easy to cross off and figure out, and some required intense thinking.

It was quite fun to work through the problem with my daughter. We had it finished in about 30 minutes!

So... Are you smarter than a 5th grader?