It was Monday morning, and Scott was off to work at the toothpaste factory!

Off to work I go!

          “Is he gone?” asked Dave looking up at Snoopy who was on the back of the couch gazing out of the window.

          “Yep,” replied Snoopy. “Coast is clear!”

          “Come on out, Goliath,” called Dave, “time to play!”

          Goliath, a tiny mouse who lived under Scott’s kitchen sink in a cabinet, poked his head out and twitched his whiskers. “What should we play this morning?” he asked.

“How about hide-and-seek?” suggested Snoopy.

   "Oh, no,” said Dave, “you guys always hide up high where I can never find you.”

“Maybe we could play tag,” said Goliath.

“Nope, nope, nope,” replied Dave, “Last time, I was it forever because I am not as quick as you guys are.”

"OK,” said Snoopy getting frustrated.  “Since you don’t like our suggestions, what is your idea, Dave?”

“How about musical chairs?” said Dave.

“Hmmm...,” Goliath replied, “I have never played that. 

Sounds like fun!  What do we do?”

“Well, first, we need chairs and music.  We can just use the couch and table,” said Dave.  “Now, we dance around the circle until the music stops, then we sit down before anyone else does.  If you don’t have a seat, you’re out!”

“Oh, I see, then we take out a chair- or in this case, the table- and two of us dance around until the music stops.  Is that correct?” asked Goliath.

“That’s it!” said Dave as he turned on the radio so they could begin.  The music played and the animals danced around the couch and table until Dave hit pause.  Snoopy plopped down on the couch immediately while Goliath and Dave jumped on the table at the same time. 

“Me first!” said Dave.

          “No, me!” replied Goliath.

          “I sat down first!” Dave yelled.

          “Oh, no you didn’t!” shouted Goliath.

          “Ummm guys?” Snoopy tried to interrupt.

          “Stay out of this, Snoopy!” they both screamed.

          Neither of them noticed what Snoopy saw from the couch as Dave and Goliath continued to argue who sat down first.  The lamp- Scott’s favorite lamp- was teetering on the edge of the table.

“Guys, the lamp!” screeched Snoopy just as it fell from the table and broke into pieces.

“Uh-oh,” said all three animals in unison. 

“Scott’s favorite lamp!  What are we going to do?” questioned Dave.

“Maybe we could glue it back together,” Goliath suggested.

“No good.” replied snoopy.  “It is beyond repair.”

“Maybe we could buy a new one!” Dave said with excitement.  “We could search for some money and order one from the internet!”

“Great idea,” said Snoopy. “I think I know which website to go to for a new one.  I always see Scott looking for new things on Lampazon.com.”

So the friends began to search the house for money.  Dave went to the laundry room since he knew that Scott always emptied his pockets before washing his clothes and sometimes left the money in there.  Dave searched on top of the dryer, under the machines, and in the laundry basket.  He was excited to find 3 one dollar bills, 3 dimes, 1 nickel, and 4 pennies.  How much money did Dave find in all? 

Count the bills first: one, two three dollars; next count the dimes: since each is worth ten cents, we can count, 10, 20, 30 cents; now the nickel: it is worth 5 cents, so 5 more than 30 cents is 35 cents; finally, count by ones to add the pennies: 36, 37, 38, 39 cents. Dave found $3.39.

Goliath searched the coats and jackets hanging by the front door since he knew that Scott sometimes left money in the pockets.  He hit the jacket jackpot!  He found 2 ten dollar bills, 1 five dollar bill, 2 quarters, 5 nickels, and 1 penny. 

Counting his money, we would say he has 10, 20, 25 dollars, and 25, 50, 55,60,65,70,75, and 76: $25.76!

Snoopy searched the couch cushions since he knew that sometimes money fell out of Scott’s pockets while he was sitting there. 

After looking all through the couch, he found 7 quarters, 1 dime, 1 nickel, and 1 penny. 

Count Snoopy’s money.  He has 25, 50, 75, one dollar, $1.25, $1.50, $1.75, $1.85, $1.90, and $1.91.

The three friends came together to add their money. 

“I found $3.39 in the laundry room!” said Dave.

“Well, I found $1.91 in the couch!” said Snoopy.

“I found the most,” Goliath began.  “I found $25.76!  Let’s add it up!”  He found a pencil and piece of paper and wrote the numbers on top of each other. 

Dave looked at what he wrote.

No, that is not right!

“Nope, that is not right, Goliath,” said Dave.  “You have to line up that decimal to add the numbers together, or else you will get the wrong total!” So Dave rewrote the amounts lining up the decimals properly. 

“Let’s see, you start with the dollars first, right Snoopy?”

“No, Dave.  You begin from the right and work to the left in case you need to regroup.”

“What’s regrouping?” asked Goliath.

“I’ll show you,” said Snoopy.  “First you add the hundredths place or the “penny” column. 

Let’s see, 6 plus 9 is 15, plus 1 more makes 16.  I can’t write sixteen pennies in that column, so I can put down the 6 pennies and carry or regroup the 10 cents to the tenths column as 1 tenth or like a dime.