Story Problems Equations

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Worry no longer!

Story Problems always sound more complicated than they really are. You just need to be a good word detective to find the words that tell you what to do in a story problem. After finding the key words, you go through a process, and — abracadabra!mdash; you will find your solution!

Let's break down some of the key words to look for in the story problems. You can use the chart below for reference, or you can download and print Story Problem Key Words found in Downloadable Resources in the right-hand sidebar to have a printout of the chart.

Now that you have the key words, let's review the process for solving a story problem:

1. Write out or underline in the story problem what you know.
2. Write out what you need to know.
3. From the key words, think about what operation(s) will you need to use.
4. Draw a picture or write out the equation to solve.
5. Solve the problem and check the answer.

In this easy system to solve word problems video below, they introduce another simple process to solve story problems. Feel free to use either method, even if it's a mixture of both methods, to help you make sense of story problems.