Grade Levels: 3-5

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Multi-Step Word Problem Lesson Plan. 

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Multi-Step Word Problems, and supports the standard of solving multi-step word problems with whole numbers and having whole-number answers using the four operations. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Display this word problem:

Imagine you’re planning a pizza party for 10 people. If a pizza pie with eight slices is $15, how much will it cost to buy enough pizza so that each person can have two slices? 

Prompt students to share the steps for understanding and representing the problem in pictures or numbers. They need not actually solve the problem.

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Assign Multi-Step Word Problems Challenge and Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about multi-step word problems while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

  • Make-a-Movie: Produce a commercial for a sale in which every $25 you spend, you get $3 off of your next purchase. Explain how to solve for the amount you’d need to spend to get $36 off your next purchase. 
  • Make-a-Map: Create a concept map sequencing the steps to solve a specific multi-step word problem. 
  • Creative Coding: Code a multi-step word problem, then challenge a classmate to solve it. 

More to Explore 

Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of operations and algebraic thinking with these topics: Multi-Digit Multiplication, Multi-Digit Division, and Long Division.

Teacher Support Resources:

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments