Addition word problems, step by step
The first word problems a child meets are addition stories: two groups joined together, or a starting amount that grows.
The question
How many acorns does Owl have in all?
Owl already had 18 acorns by the creek, and then picked 5 more.
Owl already had 18 acorns by the creek, and then picked 5 more.
numbers:185
18 + 5
asked:How many acorns does Owl have in all?
18 + 5 =23
23 acorns
- Read it through once. Grabbing the numbers on the first read means choosing an operation before you know the story, and that choice is the only hard part of a word problem.
- Now the numbers: 18 and 5. Finding them is not the same as knowing what to do with them — that comes next, and it comes from the story rather than from the numbers.
- Amounts are joining together. So this one is an addition: 18 + 5.
- 18 + 5 = 23 acorns. And answer the question that was ASKED — "How many acorns does Owl have in all?" — in acorns, because the sum on its own is not yet an answer.
How it works.
- 01
Read it through once. Grabbing the numbers on the first read means choosing an operation before you know the story, and that choice is the only hard part of a word problem.
- 02
Now the numbers: 18 and 5. Finding them is not the same as knowing what to do with them — that comes next, and it comes from the story rather than from the numbers.
- 03
Amounts are joining together. So this one is an addition: 18 + 5.
- 04
18 + 5 = 23 acorns. And answer the question that was ASKED — "How many acorns does Owl have in all?" — in acorns, because the sum on its own is not yet an answer.