Word Problems
How can I help my child with word problems?
One of the most important steps in solving word problems is making sense of the problem before solving!
That might be why Make Sense of Problems and Persevere in Solving Them is the First Common Core Math Practice!
Use these links to jump to various questions you may have about how to help your child become an independent problem solver!
How do I support my child to become an independent problem solver?
What strategies can my child use to make sense of word problems?
RIZ Making Sense of Story Problems.mp4Ms. Mandy shows strategies for what we often call "story problems."
How can I coach my child without doing the thinking for them?
Shimizu-Unpacking Role Play.mp4Ms. Shimizu from Campbell Hill demonstrates in a role play.
What resources or reminders might I offer my child as they work on word problems?
In school we create what we call "anchor charts" to remind students of the strategies we have practiced and that we want them to keep using independently. You might help your child make their own reminders on a sheet of paper!
Strategies for Making Sense of Problems
- Read the problem many times
- Retell the story in your own words
- Draw a picture of what's happening
- Visualize (make a "mind movie")
- Act it out
- Try to understand one part at a time
- Annotate important information
- Ask yourself questions! See the sample questions below or use this 3-reads sheet to write down your thinking.
- Ask for help with tricky words
- If the numbers feel too hard, put in your own smaller numbers!
Ask Yourself Questions!
- What's happening in this story?
- What am I trying to figure out? What will the answer tell me?
- What is the important information?
- What does each number mean?
- How can I draw or represent this situation with tools?
- Does this remind me of other problems I've solved?
- What type of problem is this? (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or more than one operation?!)
- After solving: Does my answer make sense? Does my strategy match the story?
Questions adapted from: Routines for Reasoning: Fostering the Mathematical Practices in All Students
What kinds of strategies might my child use to actually solve word problems?
We encourage students to use strategies that make sense to them, and coach them to use more efficient strategies over time.
Click here to learn more about strategies students use and why.
We also encourage students to choose tools that might help them solve the problem. Selecting tools that make sense for a given problem is another important Standard for Mathematical Practice!
For example, Kindergartners and 1st graders might solve an addition problem by drawing or counting out cubes. Then they might count them all again by ones to find the total.
Click the picture to try out virtual cubes!
More virtual math tools can be found at didax.com
2nd graders might build more efficiently with base ten blocks. After students in K-3 develop a deep understanding of place value and operations they learn the algorithm in 4th grade.
Click this picture to try out virtual place value pieces!
More virtual math tools at mathlearningcenter.org
What kinds of word problems is my child expected to solve?
Operations & Number Size
Students in Kindergarten-2nd Grade mostly focus on the operations of addition & subtraction, although as you may have noticed in the video at the top of this page, they can solve multiplication and division stories too! They start with numbers within 10, then 20, then 100, and then 1,000!
Students in 3rd-5th grade use all four basic operations, and the number size they are expected to work with similarly grows larger each year, and includes operations with fractions in 4th and 5th grades.
Notice in this sample problem slideshow that so-called "key words" like "altogether" can be used for more than one operation, so don't let those fool you!
Students in 2nd-5th Grade Solve Multi-Step Problems Too!
Multi-step problems are just like they sound... problems that have more than one step. These kind of problems often have a hidden question--something you need to figure out to solve the problem. Look at this example:
Makayla bought 5 tickets for 25 cents each. If she started with $2, how much money did she have left?
This problem asks how much money Makayla had left. But to answer that, you have to answer a hidden question: how much money did she spend? Students solve multi-step problems in grades 2-5. You can see more examples in this slideshow.
What are the big ideas we want students to understand about operations?
Addition is joining, combining, or putting things together.
Subtraction is removal, taking away, or finding the difference between amounts.
Multiplication is joining equal groups (or repeatedly adding the same number).
Division is sharing with repeated subtraction or dealing things out into equal groups.
It's also extremely important that students understand the properties of operations (e.g., the commutative property of multiplication) and relationships between operations. This shows up repeatedly in the standards; here are just two examples:
Addition and Subtraction are related, and you can think of subtraction as a missing addend problem.
Multiplication and Division are related, and you can think of division as a missing factor problem.