Lesson Guide
Explanation
A word problem is a story with a question hiding inside. Before doing any maths, read it twice and find three things: What is HAPPENING? (Mia's stickers are joining together.) What are the NUMBERS? (46 and 28.) What is the QUESTION? (How many now?) Once you know the story, the maths almost writes itself.
Your Turn
Read: 'Tom baked 35 cookies and ate 9. How many are left?' Find the three things. Check: cookies are being taken away; 35 and 9; how many LEFT.
Watch Out
The most common mistake is answering before understanding. Slow reading is fast maths!
Explanation
When the story JOINS things together — more stickers arrive, two groups combine, we want the total — the number sentence uses +. Mia's 46 stickers plus 28 new ones: 46 + 28 = 74. Words like 'altogether', 'in total' and 'more' often signal adding — but always check the story agrees.
Your Turn
'A library has 125 picture books and 143 chapter books. How many books altogether?' Write the sentence and solve. Check: 125 + 143 = 268.
Watch Out
Keyword-hunting can trick you — 'more' sometimes appears in comparing questions. The story beats the keyword every time.
Explanation
Two kinds of stories use subtraction. TAKING AWAY: Tom ate 9 of his 35 cookies — 35 − 9 = 26 left. COMPARING: Ben has 62 cards and Ali has 47 — how many MORE does Ben have? That's a gap question: 62 − 47 = 15. Nothing was eaten or lost in a comparing story — we're just measuring the difference.
Your Turn
'A tower is 84 blocks tall. Another is 58 blocks. How much taller is the first?' Check: comparing → 84 − 58 = 26 blocks taller.
Watch Out
'How many more' means SUBTRACT, even though it contains the word 'more'! This is the number one trap in Year 3.
Explanation
Turn the story into a number sentence before solving: 'a bus had 52 people, 17 got off' becomes 52 − 17 = ▢. Solve it with any strategy you like: 52 − 17 = 35. Then — this matters — answer the actual question in words: 'There are 35 people still on the bus.' A bare 35 isn't a full answer to a story question.
Your Turn
'Zoe saved $48. She spent $19 on a game. How much is left?' Write the sentence, solve, answer in words. Check: 48 − 19 = 29 → 'Zoe has $29 left.'
Watch Out
The answer must match the question. If they asked 'how many are STILL ON the bus', don't answer with how many got off!
Explanation
Last step of every word problem: does the answer make sense in the story? People got OFF the bus, so the answer must be smaller than 52 — if you got 69, you added by mistake. Joining stories end bigger; taking-away stories end smaller. This ten-second check catches wrong-operation mistakes better than anything else. Now try the quiz and exercises — read twice, sentence, solve, sense-check!
Your Turn
Sense-check this: 'Had 30 marbles, lost 12, now I have 42.' Sensible? Check: no! Losing makes fewer — it should be 18.
Watch Out
A perfectly-calculated answer to the WRONG sentence is still wrong. The sense check is your safety net.
Step 1: Introduction
Step 1 of 5
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