Grade Levels: K-3

These family and homeschool activities are designed to complement the Solving Word Problems topic on BrainPOP Jr.

Using Counters

Remind your child that he or she can use counters or other manipulatives to solve a word problem. Pose a problem such as, “Annie has 6 crayons. She gets 8 more. How many crayons does she have in all?” Help your child understand the question by highlighting important information, then make a plan to solve, and then follow out that plan. He or she may want to use actual crayons or other manipulatives to solve. Then have your child check his or her answer. Repeat the activity again using other word problems that involve different operations and have your child use small household items as counters to solve.

Make a Table

Show your child how to use a table or chart to find patterns in word problems. Pose a problem such as, “One student gets 2 cards. Two students get 4 cards in all. Three students get 6 cards in all. How many cards do 5 students get in all?” Model how to create a table to see the number relationship between the number of students and the number of cards. Create different word problems for your child to solve using a chart or table.