➕ Operations & Algebraic Thinking
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Word Problems Within 20

Stories hide math problems inside — let's find them and solve them!

A word problem is a math question written as a little story. You read it carefully, find the numbers, decide whether to add or subtract, and then solve it. Word problems show us that math is used in real life every single day!

🐛An addition word problem
There are 7 caterpillars on a leaf. 🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛
5 more caterpillars crawl over. 🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛

How many caterpillars are there now?
→ 7 + 5 = 12 caterpillars!
🍓A subtraction word problem
Rosa picked 14 strawberries. 🍓
She ate 6 of them. 😋

How many strawberries does she have left?
→ 14 − 6 = 8 strawberries!

Steps to solve any word problem:

1Read the problem all the way through
2Find the numbers (what do we start with?)
3Find the action — are we joining (add) or removing (subtract)?
4Write the number sentence
5Solve it and check: does the answer make sense in the story?
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ADD clue words: "joins," "gets more," "altogether," "in all." SUBTRACT clue words: "takes away," "gives away," "how many left," "fewer."

✏️ Try It!

Jake had 9 🪁 kites. He gave 4 to his friend. How many kites does Jake have left?

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Remember This!

Draw a picture of the story! Sketching the objects makes it much easier to see whether you need to add or subtract.

Take Quiz 📝 — 25 Questions