Steps for Solving Word Problems

Hey Teachers! Here you have a new FREEBIE. This resource contains 3 display posters and an inphographic for your classroom. It’s perfect to teach your pupils how to SOLVE a WORD PROBLEM easy and step by step. It is important you read them together and out loud, so you can help your students understanding the information of the posters. Once they have understood the information, you can hang it on your walls.

What are the main steps solving word problems?

Read and understand the problem. Read the problem for understanding. Read it as many times as you need so you can understand all the information.
Underline the important information. Try to identify the important information. Then underline all the important facts and look for patterns.
Look for the main question of the problem. Try to identify the main question of the problem. Your goal is to find an answer to this question using math operations.
Think and choose a strategy to solve the problem. Choose the operations you are going to use to solve the problem and answer to the question. Some clue words are:
1. 1. Addition: join, sum or total.
  2. Multiplication: times or equal groups.
  3. Substraction: take away or difference.
  4. Division: split or cut up.
Solve the problem using the strategy. Do all the operations you need to solve the problem and find a solution.
Check your answers. Check all the operations and make sure all of them are correct.
Write the solution. Write the answer to the problem in a complete sentence. For instance: Sam bought 8 Pokemon stickers at the grocery store.