Learning Is A Nickel-And-Dime Process

(I am in fifth grade. We’re playing a game in class. We have come up to this question.)

Teacher: “You have two coins equaling thirty cents. One is not a nickel; what coins are being used?”

(Both teams debate this for awhile while I’m sitting there telling my team that it’s a quarter and a nickel.)

Student #1: “Three dimes!”

Teacher: “No. There’s only two coins.”

Student #2: “Two quarters?”

Teacher: “That would equal fifty cents.”

Student #3: “This is impossible! There’s no answer.”

Me: “A quarter and a nickel.”

*no one hears me*

Student #4: “A twenty cent piece and a dime?”

Teacher: “No. We don’t use twenty cent pieces.”

Me: *loudly* “For crying out loud! It’s a quarter and a nickel!”

Student #1: “No, it isn’t! She said one isn’t a nickel!”

Me: “Exactly. ONE isn’t a nickel. There are TWO coins, and one of them IS a nickel!”

Teacher: “She’s right. One point.”