LOGIC PUZZLES for May

Included in this resource are 5 logic puzzles on separate pages, ready to be solved!

Let your students know that your class is all about thinking and sticking with a problem until it is “puzzled out.”

Students too often see mathematics as a set of rules to know and follow. However, real mathematics, in life outside of school is not so algorithmic. In addition, questions presented on state tests ask students to think beyond the rules. The simplest word problems ask them to discern how to start and how to proceed. There isn’t a formula for such a skill. Therefore, students struggle with it.

Puzzles depend on that kind of skill. That is why some people ignore puzzles. The ones that choose to do them are usually the ones that have already developed that skill. If we want our students to be confident when facing real math, we have to deliberately present them with challenges that mimic the “realness” of math.

(NOTE...Logic puzzles are used as basic exercises in law school. The LSAT contains many logical problems.)

SUGGESTED uses:

Introduce logic puzzles (or any new type of puzzle) by working through one together. After students know how to mark their grid and glean information, let them work independently.

Use them as warm-ups or brain breaks. But use them regularly. Don’t let your students think of them as candy or a treat (or a torture for some). Help them realize that the practice of reading, thinking, and solving is vital in your course and in real life... which is what you are preparing them for ultimately.

Use these challenges to train your students to think.

LOGIC Puzzles require

careful reading

analyzing

flexible thinking

handling multiple constraints

perseverance

This set of 5 puzzles is themed for the month of May:

Ice Cream Treats

Mothers’ Day

Fiesta Time

April Showers - May Flowers

Yard Work (this one is a challenge)

Solutions are included.

In case you wondered, the names for the boys in three of the puzzles are the four Presidents from Mt Rushmore. The names of the towns are all from TV shows... can you name the shows?