A Level 1 Narrative

You won't believe this but the other day my neighbour came by for a cup of coffee and I think he told me a fib. Do you know what he told me? He told me that his dog had had nine puppies and that half of them were spotty and half of them were plain. That just doesn't seem right to me for some reason. Do you think he was tricking me? Help me find out please.

A quick chat about what a half is and the students can begin. I have had two very unusual solutions to this problem as well as the expected range. One was a picture with four plain dogs, four spotty dogs and a cross. The cross was there for the one that died. This explained how my neighbour could be telling the truth-there were nine puppies before one died and now that one is dead there are half with spots and half without. The other unusual response was a picture of nine puppies with plain front ends and spotty rear ends-again a compromise which meant that my neighbour was telling the truth.