WORD PROBLEMS FOR K-5 STUDENTS: DRAW CONCLUSIONS THE EASY WAY If a picture is worth a thousand words, isn’t a word problem worth at least one picture? Word problems are common at every level of math, from addition to calculus. Help your child draw conclusions the easy way. Understand the operations involved in a particular word problem. Look for key words such as add, estimate, group or compare. Then make sure your child is familiar with these general concepts. Also, be sure to correctly isolate the elements of an equation. Does the answer ask for how many total pieces of fruit there are or the total cost of the apples? Next, create a diagram, sketch or chart. Don’t forget lists and tables, building a model or working backward after an initial prediction. Be sure to consider manipulatives—physical objects that represent numbers or concepts. For example, counting sticks are often used with younger students to introduce deciles, or cardboard clocks to teach telling time. Make the conceptual shift from a drawing to numbers. It is important to emphasize that this method is not meant to provide a “short cut,” so much as a bridge. Check your child’s understanding of the concept by asking him to explain, for example, the process of finding a common denominator. Getting the right answer is important, but equally important is learning the route taken. Richard E. Bavaria, Ph.D., vice president of education for Sylvan Learning Center, says bringing math into everyday situations is a great learning tool. “Any time parents can help their child recognize that math is a part of everyday life and not just a series of problems on a worksheet, they are doing their child a favor,” Bavaria says. “If parents can talk about how they use math in their everyday life children can easily relate.” He says parents can help children become familiar with math by using it in familiar situations such as at the tool bench, athletic events, cooking, tracking temperatures or even on road trips. Keep in mind that math today is taught differently than in generations past. Instead of teaching subjects in lock step, concepts presented in the primary years are constantly built upon. As early as first grade, geometry topics such as sorting shapes or comparing symmetry are introduced. If a student doesn’t grasp these fundamentals, he can never fully understand more advanced concepts until he reviews the basics. Under-achieving students often develop coping strategies that mask their lack of a firm foundation in the fundamentals. “Math is very much a sequential subject and it requires a strong foundation,” Bavaria says. “When students recognize that they are having difficulty in math the problem might not be in the lesson that they are learning but that they haven’t mastered the lesson from three weeks ago.” Many Web-based resources offer excellent visual and interactive problems. Younger students will like the games and friendly graphics offered at www.coolmath.com. For additional practice, see the attached worksheet, with problems covering addition, subtraction, multiplication and measurement. Each problem may be solved with the aid of a drawing. By Emmet Rosenfeld K-5 Worksheet Addition and Subtraction 1. At the store Jenny bought three lollipops, two candy bars and six pieces of gum. How many pieces of candy did she buy? 2. Billy invited 23 friends to his birthday party. Twelve of them said they would come. How many friends cannot come to the party? 3. At 32° F, rain turns into snow. Right now it is raining and 40°F. How much does the temperature have to drop before the rain turns to snow? 4. Leta breaks open her piggy bank. There are 53 pennies, 6 nickels, 12 dimes, 5 quarters, and 2 dollar bills. How much money has she saved? Multiplication and Division 5. Shawn attends school for seven hours a day. During the last two weeks (10 days) of school, he missed three days because of snow. How many hours of school did he go to during this time? 6. Fifty-five children volunteered to paint the mural on the school playground. Each will get a quart of paint. How many whole gallons of paint will be required? 7. Song’s dad is 5’6”. Her cat is stuck at the top of a tree that is four times taller than her dad. How high is the cat off the ground? 8. Amber’s mom gives her $20 to buy 2 pounds of fish for dinner. Tuna costs $7 a pound. How much change should Amber give her mother? Shapes and Measurement 9. Paul’s house is two miles from Jay’s house. Alisha’s house is three miles from Paul’s, in the other direction. Jay’s mom drives him to pick up Paul, then they drive to Alisha’s. Then she drives home. How many miles does Jay’s mom drive? 10. On the baseball diamond, the distance from any base to the next base is 60 feet. Jack hit a home run. How many yards did he cover while circling the bases? Answers 1. Jenny bought 11 pieces of candy. 2. 11 chidlren can’t come to Billy’s party. 3. The temperature must drop 8° F. 4. Leta saved $5.28. 5. Shawn attended 49 hours of school. 6. The school must buy 14 gallons of paint. 7. The cat is 22 feet above the ground. 8. Amber should give her mother $6. 9. Jay’s mom drives 10 miles. 10. Jack ran 80 yards.