Today from Bedtime Math: A Book for Fluffy

Just as it's great to do math at bedtime, it's great to read a bedtime story, too. The more you read, the better you'll get at it. And that includes reading to anyone, including your pet. So the Animal Rescue in Birdsboro, PA decided to get kids to adopt pets and practice their reading at the same time, with their "Book Buddies Program." Local kids visit and read books to the cats at the shelter. The cat might have no clue what you're saying, but it will probably enjoy the pictures, and in the meantime you get to read without being interrupted. As we can see, the cat here is enjoying the book "Dogs Can't Read" - well, assuming the cat can read it.

Now here's today's math~

Wee ones: What's biggest in that photo: the book, the kid, or the cat?

Little kids: If there are 5 cats at the shelter and 6 kids come to read to them, and every kid reads at least once, how many cats get to be read to twice?  Bonus: How many cats and kids are there in total?

Big kids: If there are 5 dogs and 25 cats, how many cats are there per dog?  Bonus: If each animal likes to be read to for 15 minutes, and kids sign up for an hour at a time, how many kids have to sign up to make sure every animal is read to?

Answers:

Wee ones: The kid!

Little kids: 1 cat.  Bonus: 11 participants.

Big kids: 5 cats per dog.  Bonus: 4 animals can be read to in 1 hour, and with 30 animals there are 7 1/2 sets of 4.  So they'll need 8 kids to sign up.