Transcript Solving word problems

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 more birds
as well. If in all he saw 26 birds, how
many birds did he see today?
In this problem, what are you trying to
figure out?
If you said:
“How many birds did Alex see
today?” then…
You’re right!
Step 2
Get a PLAN.
How will you answer the
question?
Should you ADD, SUBTRACT,
DIVIDE, MULTIPLY?
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
Let’s look at the
example again.
Yesterday, Alex saw 14 birds in his
backyard. Today, he saw more birds
as well. If in all he saw 26 birds, how
many birds did he see today?
Do you see any CLUE WORDS?
If you said…
“in all,” or “more” then…
You’re right!
The words “in all” or “more” 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 an equation 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 more birds as
well. If in all he saw 26 birds, how
many birds did he see today?
Write an equation and SOLVE it.
If you wrote…
b + 14 = 26
b = 12
then…
You’re right!
Step 4
LOOK BACK.
Does your answer fit the question?
We had to find out how many birds
Alex saw today.
We added the number he saw
yesterday and used a variable to
represent the amount he saw today
since we did not know.
Our answer was “Alex saw 12 birds
today.”
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.