Solve It! Friday- Task # 2

Here's how Solve It! Friday works:
1. Each Friday morning (at 12:00 AM Central Time), I will post one problem-solving task. Note: In some cases, I may post more than one version of the task to reach a wider variety of grades. 
2. Before the next Friday, use the task with your students. 
3. Have students solve the problems individually or with a group. 
4. Individual students or student groups create posters using numbers, pictures, and words to illustrate the solutions. Note: The blank backs of old book covers make great poster paper! 
5. Either via a math talk session or a gallery walk, be sure to have students share their responses with other students. 

I would love to see your students' responses and showcase them on social media. Please post your students' responses to Twitter using the hashtag #RMTSolveIt(week number). For privacy, please be sure that students' names and other identifying information is located on the back of the poster. Be sure to check out other classes' solutions using the same hashtag to filter the Twitter results. 

I look forward to seeing your students' work! Thanks for sharing! 

Note: Students should have prior experience with Venn Diagrams before completing these problems. If this is new for your students, create a few opportunities to use Venn Diagrams, maybe even using the same premise of getting to know each other, in advance. Be sure that students understand how to read and understand Venn Diagrams, especially the overlapping portion, before moving on to the tasks below. 

In addition, be sure students understand that  the total number of participants should equal the sum of the sections of the Venn Diagram. For today, assume that all students made a selection. There are no students outside of the diagram. However, for an extra challenge, ask students to re-solve the problem assuming a specific number of students did not make a selection-- they choose neither option. 

Using small objects to help find the solutions below will support the understanding of some of your more tactile students. The action of moving the objects may also help students who are still developing the understanding of how Venn Diagrams work. 

Solutions: The real beauty of these tasks is in the process. Please emphasize that with your students. It may take some time to solve these problems. Validate their efforts and ask questions to move them in a different direction. For your convenience, I have provided the solutions below:

#RMTSolveItWeek2A: Have Brothers- 2, Have Sisters- 1, Have Both- 2
#RMTSolveItWeek2B: Have Dogs- 1, Have Cats- 4, Have Both- 5

#RMTSolveItWeek2C: Likes Pepperoni- 9, Likes Peppers- 5, Likes Both- 1

Are there other solutions that will work? Please post your students' responses to Twitter using the hashtag #RMTSolveIt(week number).