Write a Math Sentence From a Verbal Sentence
Purpose of Strategy: Students who use the strategy Write a Math Sentence From a Verbal Sentence work on increasing their
ability to decipher math problems based on the operation. Students read aloud the math problem and immediately decode the
information to create a math equation to solve. This ability to decode math problems into the math equation is cornerstone to
any proficient mathematician
Materials: Math problem solving questions, dry erase board, dry erase markers
Steps:
1. Teacher assesses student to determine type of calculations to remediate.
2. Teacher models reading the math problem and determining the math equaiton .
3. Student reads aloud the math problem.
4. Student does a think aloud strategy to decipher math problem.
5. Student writes the math equation that is represented in the math problem.
6. Student solves the math problem and checks answer for reasonableness.
7. Student explains thinking to teacher and rationalizes process.
Resources:
Feifer, S. (2005). The neuropsychology of mathematics: diagnosis and intervention. Middletown: School Neuropsych Press,
LLC.
Common core instructional support tools. (2012, January 1). Retrieved from
http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/acre/standards/common-core-tools/
Single Digit Addition Word Problems
1. Mary went to the circus. She saw 3 elephants and 7 tigers.
How many animals did she see altogether?
2. A clown was juggling balls. He had 2 blue and 4 red balls.
How many balls did he have altogether?
3. At the circus, 8 clowns were wearing striped pants.
1 clown was wearing polka dot pants.
How many clowns were there in total?
4. Three children cheered for the high wire walkers.
Four children cheered for the trapeze artist.
How many children cheered?
5. Five people were selling popcorn at the circus.
One person was selling peanuts at the circus.
How many people were selling items?
Multi-Digit Addition Word Problems
1. There are 16 girls in our class.
There are 12 boys in our class.
How many students are in our class altogether?
2. Mary has 11 pencils in her desk.
Mary has 22 crayons.
How many items does she have in total?
3. Alex saw 60 paper clips on Mrs. Smith’s desk.
He saw 35 rubber bands.
How many items did he see altogether?
4. Ravi is playing with 73 cubes during center time.
He also played with 18 counters.
How many objects did he play with in total?
5. Shamesha built a tower with 46 blocks.
Octavius built a tower with 57 blocks.
How many blocks did they use altogether?
Subtraction Word Problems
1. Amy saw 10 birds. 5 birds flew away.
How many birds are left?
2. Mike had 6 pieces of candy. He gave 2 pieces to his friend.
How many pieces of candy does Mike have now?
3. Molly had 8 pencils in her backpack.
She lost one during the school day.
How many pencils does she have now?
4. Jose has 10 pennies in his pocket.
Maria has 4 pennies in her pocket.
How many more pennies does Maria have than Jose?
5. Yung has 7 apples in a bag.
Sun-Yi has 4 apples in her bag.
How many more apples does Yung have than Sun-Yi?
Multi-Digit Subtraction Word Problems
1. Meg has 88 cents in her pocket.
She bought a cookie for 53 cents.
How much money does she have left?
2. Bailey collected 98 stickers.
Jeff collected 53 stickers.
How many more stickers does Bailey have than Jeff?
3. Kyle had 75 songs on his iPod.
Logan had 69 songs on his iPod.
How many more songs does Kyle have than Logan?
4. Mrs. Clark has 28 students in her class.
She only has 19 pencils.
How many more pencils does she need so she can give a pencil to each student?
5. Lamar did 46 pushups in PE class today.
Kayla did 53 pushups in PE class today.
How many more pushups did Kayla do than Lamar?
Multiplication Word Problems
1. Miguel wants to bring cupcakes to class.
The cupcakes are sold in packs of 8. He buys 3 packs.
How many cupcakes did Miguel buy?
2. Mandy is making party favor bags for her class.
She puts 5 pieces of candy in each bag. She makes 9 bags.
How much candy did Mandy put in the bags in total?
3. Alexis has a collection of dolls in her room.
She has 3 shelves with 7 dolls on each shelf.
How many dolls does she have in total?
4. Mitchell is making bird houses.
He needs 9 nails for each house. He is planning to build 8 bird houses.
How many nails does he need in all?
5. Rosalie wants to make bracelets for her friends.
Each bracelet needs 6 beads. She has 7 friends.
How many beads does she need?
Multi-Digit Multiplication Word Problems
1. Mary Lynne has 7 boxes of Skittles. There are 55 Skittles in each box.
How many Skittles does Mary Lynne have in all?
2. There are 87 students at Moore Elementary School.
Each student has 3 pencils.
How many pencils are there in total at Moore Elementary School?
3. There are 28 students in Mrs. Hardin’s class.
Each student completed 22 math problems last night for homework.
How many math problems were completed in all?
4. Mrs. Kennedy has 11 boxes of paper clips. Each box holds 75 paper clips.
How many paper clips does Mrs. Kennedy have altogether?
5. In our class, we have 25 students. Each student has a box of 80 crayons.
How many crayons do we have in total?
Division Word Problems
1. Dixon brought cookies to share at lunch today. He has 12 cookies.
He wants to share them equally between himself and three friends.
How many cookies does each person get?
2. Zoe has 88 beads to make bracelets. Each bracelet requires 11 beads.
How many bracelets can Zoe make?
3. Mark is setting up chairs for the band concert. He has 64 chairs.
If he must put 8 chairs in each row, how many rows can he make?
4. Marcus has a collection of toy cars. He has 91 toy cars in total.
He wants to display the 7 toy cars on each table.
How many tables does he need altogether?
5. Silesha went to the farm and brought back lots of eggs for the class.
She wants to give each student 4 eggs. There are 96 eggs in total.
How many students will receive eggs?
Multi-Digit Division Word Problems
1. Brianna is inviting 60 friends to her party. She has 240 cookies in total.
How many cookies will each friend get at the party if they share equally?
2. Logan has 450 baseballs in boxes for the little league teams.
If there are 90 teams, how many baseballs does each team receive?
3. Moore Elementary School is taking 350 students on a field trip.
Each bus can hold 50 students. How buses will they need?
4. Mr. Thomas has 30 stickers in his sticker collection.
There are 30 students in his class. If he shares the stickers equally among
his students, how many stickers does each student receive?
5. There are 52 students in a grade at Moore Elementary School.
The principal has 156 erasers to share equally as prizes for each student.
How many erasers does each student receive?
Mixed Operation Word Problems
1. Each student in Mr. Crouch’s class has 51 tiger bucks. If there are 27
students in the class, how many tiger bucks do the students have altogether?
2. Amelia has 78 cents. Alexander has 69 cents.
How much more money does Amelia have than Alexander?
3. There are 98 snacks for lunch today. If every student gets 2 snacks for lunch,
how many students get a snack?
4. Z’yria has 13 dolls. Marcus has 29 action figures.
How many more toys does Marcus have than Z’yria?
5. Luther bought hamburger buns for the picnic. There are 12 buns in each pack.
If Luther bought 8 packs of buns, how many does he have in total?