Grades 1–4
Word problems
Word problems are where math meets reading. Many kids who know their facts still get stuck because they grab the numbers and guess. Schools teach them to slow down: read the story, picture it, then decide what's happening.
What kids learn, grade by grade
- 1Stories with adding and taking away within 20.
- 2One-step and two-step stories within 100.
- 3Two-step stories that use all four operations.
- 4Stories with several steps, bigger numbers and remainders.
Try this at home
- Make up stories about your day: “we had 6 cookies and ate 2…”
- Ask your child to draw the story before solving it.
- Let them make up a story for you to solve. Writing one is harder than solving one.
Guide for this topic
Finding the math in a word problem
A calm, four-step way to help a child read a math word problem, picture it, and choose whether to add, take away, multiply or divide. · 4 min read
Sample worksheet to print
One sample sheet for this topic, with the answers on page 2. Want a new sheet every time, built from the facts your child misses? That comes with Eagerly Math Plus.
The app · iPhone and iPad
Practice it in Eagerly Math
- The same pictures as these guides
- Show me, when a question is hard
- From counting to fractions, K to 5
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