How to teach word problems

Grade 1 to Grade 6

A word problem hides a calculation inside a real-life story, so the maths is only half the job. The other half is comprehension: reading carefully, working out what is being asked, and choosing the right operation. This is where many fluent calculators come unstuck, because the sum is not handed to them.

How to teach it

1. Separate reading from calculating. Read the whole problem once for the story before touching any numbers.
2. Teach a routine such as CUBES or read-plan-solve-check: find the question, pull out the numbers and what they mean, decide the operation, then work it out.
3. Underline the actual question so the answer is not left as a bare number with no label (7 what?).
4. Model choosing the operation from the meaning, not from keywords. 'How many altogether' usually adds, but keywords lie, so always check against the situation.
5. Finish by checking the answer is reasonable and answers the question that was asked.

Common mistakes

• Grabbing the numbers and guessing an operation without reading the whole problem.
• Relying on keywords ('left' means subtract) that break on cleverly worded questions.
• Answering with a bare number and no unit or label.
• Not checking whether the answer makes sense in the story.