Solving Word Problems

“Word Problems scare me!”

“Word Problems make me nervous!”

“Word Problems? I just skip them!”

Don’t Worry! With just 4 easy steps, you can become… a Word Problem Whiz!

Step 1 UNDERSTAND the problem. What are you trying to figure out? Here’s an example:

Yesterday, Alex saw 14 birds in his backyard. Today, he saw 12. How many birds did he see in all? In this problem, what are you trying to figure out?

If you said: “How many birds did Alex see in all?” then… You’re right!

Step 2 Get a PLAN. How will you answer the question? Should you ADD or SUBTRACT?

Look for clues. Here are some CLUE WORDS that will help you decide what to do.

Addition Clue Words in all altogether sum total

Subtraction Clue Words how many more how many are left difference

Clue works for Multiplication Times Double Triple Altogether product

Clue words for Division Each Divided by Half Each set Per person

Let’s look at the example again. Yesterday, Alex saw 14 birds in his backyard. Today, he saw 12. How many birds did he see in all? Do you see any CLUE WORDS?

If you said… “in all,” then… You’re right!

The words “in all” tell us that we should ADD! Now that we UNDERSTAND the problem, and have a PLAN, we’re ready for the next step!

Step 3 SOLVE it! Write a number sentence using the information in the problem, and…

Work it out!

Give it a try! Yesterday, Alex saw 14 birds in his backyard. Today, he saw 12. How many birds did he see in all? Write a number sentence and SOLVE it.

If you wrote… = 26 then… You’re right!

Step 4 LOOK BACK. Does your answer fit the question?

We had to find out how many birds Alex saw in all. We added the number he saw yesterday and the number he saw today.

Our answer was “Alex saw 26 birds in all.” It makes sense!

We did it! We are Word Problem Whizzes!

Here are the steps once more: Step 1 – UNDERSTAND the problem. Step 2 – Get a PLAN. Step 3 – SOLVE it! Step 4 – LOOK BACK.

We did it! Now let’s try this with multiplication and division

Step 1 – UNDERSTAND the problem. Step 2 – Get a PLAN. Step 3 – SOLVE it! Step 4 – LOOK BACK. Shelly has 36 bags of suckers. Each bag has 87 suckers. How many suckers does Shelly have in all?

Did you get 3,132 suckers? You are correct!!! If not, rework the problem to find you mistake.

Step 1 – UNDERSTAND the problem. Step 2 – Get a PLAN. Step 3 – SOLVE it! Step 4 – LOOK BACK. Mario reads 76 pages every day. How many pages has he read by day number 29?

Did you get 2,204 pages? You are correct!!! If not raise your hand to get some help.

Step 1 – UNDERSTAND the problem. Step 2 – Get a PLAN. Step 3 – SOLVE it! Step 4 – LOOK BACK. Room 12 made 248 sandwiches for the fourth grade. There are 8 fourth grade classes. How many sandwiches does each class get if we divide them evenly?

Did you get 31 sandwiches each class?

Step 1 – UNDERSTAND the problem. Step 2 – Get a PLAN. Step 3 – SOLVE it! Step 4 – LOOK BACK. Ms. Anaya has 25 students in her SFA class. If she has 225 candy bars how many does each student get?

Each student get 9 candy bars.

Clue Words for Math AddingSubtracting MultiplyingDivision