Word problems? No problem! In this lesson, your students will learn how to approach solving multi-step word problems with mixed operations with a step-by-step plan.
Students will be able to solve multi-step words problems with mixed operations using a four-step plan.
The adjustment to the whole group lesson is a modification to differentiate for children who are English learners.
EL adjustments
Introduction
(5 minutes)
Distribute whiteboards to each student.
Write the following word problem on the board: "Nico baked 118 cupcakes. He kept 22 cupcakes at home to share with his family. He took the remaining cupcakes to school to share evenly with his 12 friends. How many cupcakes did each friend get?"
Ask students to solve this word problem on their whiteboards.
Call on a student volunteer to share their answer and the steps they took to solve this word problem.
Tell students that this is an example of a multi-step word problem, which has more than one step in order to solve it.
Beginning
Allow students to work with an effective partner on the word problem.
Have students discuss the word problem before attempting to solve it. Provide sentence stems to help them discuss: "First, we have to... Then, we should... Finally, we will..."
Intermediate
Define any unfamiliar terms in the word problem in students' home language (L1) and in English (L2). Provide images or symbols to help define the terms.