What's the Problem {April}
Looking for some fun and challenging word problem practice? Then, look no further, the newest installment of "What's the Problem?" is ready to share. This (free) mini book series is a great way to give students practice with writing their own addition and subtraction word problems.So what is a "What's the Problem?" mini book? It's a project that tasks students with creating a story (word) problem for a given answer. They have to use a different kind of thinking to do this, and they have to use the correct vocabulary terms as they write their problems (i.e. "how many more?" or "how many in all?" and so on).
When working on this skill, my students are taught to write three sentences. The first two sentences pose the problem, and the third asks the question. I also tell my students that they need to use the answer label throughout their story. For example:
Sally found 15 plastic containers. Then, she found 11 more plastic containers. How many gold plastic containers did Sally find in all?
"What's the Problem?" is a great way to get students thinking about word problems from a different angle and encourages them to use math vocabulary appropriately. They have to focus carefully on crafting their word problem and as they develop this skill, they will also be able to more easily solve other word problems.
When your students are ready, they could write two step story problems. Or, you could task them with adding "extra" information to their word problems as a device to try and "trick" the reader. You could also have students draw a model for their word problem in the space at the bottom of each page.
You can grab the free April mini book here.
Also, you can find my other "What's the Problem?" mini books here.
Toodles!!
