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Which 3 go together?
Card Sort Story Problems Cards
The purpose of this activity is to sort story problems with unknowns in all positions. Students sort the story problems by whether they are addition or subtraction problems. This sorting task gives students opportunities to analyze story problems closely and make connections (MP2, MP7). Some stories include actions that would be represented by one operation, but may be solved using the opposite operation. Students may sort these problems into either category as long as they can explain how they sort.
For example, consider this Take From, Start Unknown story problem:
Clare has some stickers.
She gives 9 of them to her friends.
She has 5 stickers left.
How many stickers did Clare have to start with?
In the last lesson, students related this type of problem to a subtraction equation (). This equation represents the action in the story. However, students may also think of an equation that shows how they would solve the problem (). This concept is discussed in the Activity Synthesis to prepare students to identify more than one equation to match these story problems in the next activity.
The purpose of this activity is to match equations to the story problems from the previous activity. Each story has several equations listed, two of which match the story. Students are encouraged to find both equations. However, it is more important that students can explain how an equation represents what is happening in the story or how it is used to solve the story. In the launch, students make sense of a familiar diagram to encourage them to use objects or drawings to represent the story if it will help them find the matching equations.
In order to match stories with equations, students reason abstractly and quantitatively (MP2) as they interpret both the numbers and the operations in the equations in terms of a context.
Circle the 2 equations that match each story.
Jada uses 8 pictures of people.
She also uses some pictures of animals.
Altogether she uses 11 pictures.
How many pictures of animals does she use?
Kiran has 19 pictures.
He gives some to his sister.
Now, he has 11 pictures left.
How many pictures did Kiran give to his sister?
Han’s collage has 16 stamps.
Lin’s collage has 10 fewer stamps.
How many stamps does Lin’s collage have?
Elena uses 9 more stickers than Andre.
Andre uses 5 stickers.
How many stickers does Elena use?
Noah has 6 stamps.
Tyler has 16 stamps.
How many fewer stamps does Noah have than Tyler?
Clare has some stickers.
She gives 9 of them to her friends.
She has 5 stickers left.
How many stickers did Clare have to start?
If you have time: Choose a story problem to solve.
Show your thinking using drawings, numbers, or words.
Repeat for subtraction.
Display this problem from the lesson:
Kiran has 19 pictures.
He gives some to his sister.
Now he has 11 pictures left.
How many pictures did Kiran give to his sister?
Display:
“Which equation best matches the actions in this story? Why?” ( because in the story Kiran starts with 19 pictures, he gives some away, and the story tells us he has 11 left.)
“Which equation matches how you would solve this problem? Why?” (I would use because I if I take away the pictures he has left, I will know how many he gave to his sister. I would use because I would rather add than subtract. I can add to the 11 pictures he had left until I get to 19 and that will tell me how many he gave to his sister.)
Complete Cool-Down