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How the Flower Came to Be
a Menominee legend retold by
Sara Wescott

Long ago when the Creator was making life, He was feeling real happy. He truly enjoyed creating! He looked around at all the wonderful things He had made and thought to Himself, "I am so happy that I want to make something special to spread my happiness." He thought long and hard, and then said, "This thing must be so pleasing that it will get a second look. It must fill the air with sweet smells that create happiness." He thought some more, and then he added, "But I also want it to serve a purpose. It must be able to be eaten and used as medicine."

So, after thinking long and happily, the Creator took bits of this and bits of that and bits of things that had never been and created the flower. He made tall ones and short ones, skinny ones and fat ones. He made them every color imaginable. He was so satisfied with His new creation that He spread them all over the world for everyone to enjoy.


How the Flower Came to Be
Word Problems

Join: Result Unknown
___ butterflies were fluttering in the garden. ___ more butterflies fluttered into the garden.
How many butterflies are in the garden now?
(6, 3) (24, 13) (47, 55)

Separate: Result Unknown
A field had ___ clover blossoms. Rabbits ate ___ of the blossoms. How many clover
blossoms were not eaten?
(7, 3) (29, 7) (62, 56)

Part Part Whole: Whole Unknown
There are ___ pink flowers and ___ purple flowers. How many flowers are there altogether?
(5, 4) (14, 23) (37, 44)

Compare: Difference Unknown
One hill has ___ flowers. A field nearby has ___ flowers. How many more flowers does the field
have than the hill?
(6, 9) (23, 35) (72, 96)

Multiplication
There are ___ flowers, and each flower has ___ leaves. How many leaves are there altogether?
(3, 4) (7, 10) (12, 8)

Measurement Division
In a garden there are ___ roses on each rose bush. Altogether there are ___ roses. How many rose bushes are in the garden?
(2, 12) (5, 25) (6, 42)

Partitive Division
In a garden there are ___ rose bushes. There is the same number of roses on each bush. Altogether there are ___ roses. How many roses are on each bush?
(3, 9) (4, 24) (6, 48)

Compare: Difference Unknown
The Creator planted ____ red flowers and ___ yellow flowers. How many more red flowers
than yellow flowers did the Creator plant?
(9, 4) (22, 11) (56, 28)

Join: Change Unknown
There were ___ clover blossoms in a meadow. A rabbit ate some of them. Then there were ___clover
blossoms. How many blossoms did the rabbit eat?
(7, 4) (26, 14) (32, 24)

Separate: Change Unknown
___ butterflies were fluttering among the flowers.
Some flew away. Then there were ___ butterflies left.
How many butterflies flew away?
(6, 4) (17, 5) (44, 33)

Part Part Whole: Part Unknown
There were ___ flowers on a hill. ___ of them were yellow. The rest were red.
How many red flowers were on the hill?
(9, 3) (26, 18) (56, 48)

Compare: Referent Unknown
There were ___ roses in a field. There were ___ more roses than daisies.
How many daisies were in the field?
(8, 4) (28, 14) (32, 23)

Two-Step Problem
___ butterflies fluttered into a flower filled garden. ___ more butterflies fluttered into the garden.
Then a gentle breeze blew____ of the butterflies into the woods.
How many butterflies stayed in the garden?
(4, 5, 3) (11, 23, 14) (24, 37, 22)


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