Teacher Guided Practice Questions

Grade Levels: 3 - 5

To help students compare the value of decimals, propose situations such as these:

1. The fastest known fish, the cosmopolitan sailfish, swims up to 67.92 miles per hour; the fastest mammal, the cheetah, runs across the plains at up to 67.912 miles per hour. Which animal is faster? (sailfish)



2. A garden snail can journey at 0.03 miles per hour; a three-toed sloth can travel at 0.15 miles per hour; and a tortoise can move up to 0.280 miles per hour. Order the animals from fastest to slowest. (tortoise, three-toed sloth, garden snail)



3. Free-tailed bats have been clocked at 32.41 miles per hour. If a tropical cockroach moves at speeds up to 3.241 miles per hour, how many times faster is the bat? (10 times faster)



4. Killer whales swim at 34.53 miles per hour in the eastern Pacific. Is this faster or slower than a nearby cruise ship moving at 34.55 miles per hour? (slower)



5. If a tortoise travels at 0.17 miles per hour and a spider moves at 1.17 miles per hour, how much faster is the spider? (one mile per hour faster)



6. A dolphin can swim at 30.55 miles per hour, a giraffe can travel 30.7 miles per hour, a domestic cat can run 30.21 miles per hour, and a grizzly bear can travel at 30.1 miles per hour. Order the animals from slowest to fastest. (grizzly bear, domestic cat, dolphin, giraffe)