How can I use math
strategies to solve word
problems?
Miss Hartgrove
Hanes Middle School
Lesson Outline
Today we are going to:
• Review the math clue words
• Identify math strategies that we
can use to solve problems
• Use what we have learned so far to
solve some math problems.
2
Review
Before we begin our lesson for today,
we are going to review the clue
words that tell us which math
operation to perform.
BONUS: What are the four math
operations?
3
Review, continued
Clue Word Review Activity:
• You are going to work in your small
groups to match the math clue word
with the clue word that it matches.
• Look at your work system and get
out your blue folder.
4
Our Goal Today is to
Identify Ways or
Strategies to solve Math
Problems!
5
Discussion
What are some ways we can solve
math problems?
I will give you one to get you
started:
Pencil and Paper
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Strategies to Solve Problems
•
•
•
•
•
Paper and Pencil
Calculators
Mental Math
Draw a picture
Estimation
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Paper and Pencil
Paper and Pencil is the oldest and
easiest way to solve math problems.
Example:
5 + 6 = 11
8
Practice
Use paper and pencil to solve the
following problem:
Sarah bought 2 lollipops for each of
her 4 friends. How many lollipops
did Sarah buy?
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Work Space
10
Calculators
Using a calculator is the fastest way
to solve math problems.
However, you will not always have a
calculator so it is important that
you use more than one strategy to
solve problems.
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Practice
Use your calculator to solve the
following word problem:
Jack made 15 cards for the party.
Melissa made 10 cards as well. How
many cards did they make in all?
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Work Space
13
Mental Math
Mental Math means solving the problem
in your head.
Mental math can be difficult depending
on how big the numbers are and what
type of problem you are solving.
Mental math is easiest with small
numbers and addition or subtraction.
14
Practice
Use mental math to solve the
following word problem:
Eric sold 5 CDs on Monday and 5 CDs
on Tuesday. How many CDs did Eric
sell?
15
Work Space
16
Draw a Picture
Drawing a picture is an easy way to
solve a math problem or to check
your work.
You can use circles, squares, lines, or
any other object when you draw
pictures to solve problems.
17
Practice
Draw a picture to solve the following
word problem:
The school had 20 yearbooks. They
sold 6. How many yearbooks are
left?
18
Work Space
19
Estimation
Estimation is used to figure out
about how much or how many.
When using estimation, it is
important to use paper and pencil or
a calculator to get an exact answer.
To estimate an answer, you should
round the numbers to an even
number.
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For Example:
Using the problem about the school
yearbooks:
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- 5 (I rounded 6 down to 5 because
I can skip count by 5s to get
an answer)
21
Practice
Use estimation to solve the following
word problem:
David ate 9 skittles. Beth ate 10
skittles. How many skittles did they
eat in all?
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Work Space
23
REMEMBER!
No matter which math strategy you
use, you should always check your
work!
Everyone makes mistakes (even our
calculators)!
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How do I check my work?
We check our math work by doing
the opposite operation.
If we added to get the answer, then
we subtract to check our work.
If we multiplied to get the answer,
then we divide to check our work.
25
Word Problem Pull
We are going to practice what we have
learned so far with a Word Problem
Pull activity. For this activity you will
select one person from your group to
come up and get an envelope with a
word problem.
The envelope also all tells you which
math strategy you should use to solve
the problem.
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