How Many More? How Many Fewer?

Grade level

Grades 1–2

Time

About 20 minutes

Topic

Math word problems

Answer key

Yes, page 2 of the PDF

Kids practice

Reading word problems, Choosing the operation, Showing work, Multi-step reasoning

What kids do

“Read each problem. Which is more? Find the difference. Write the answer.”

Printed on the sheet:

1. 1 Mia has 12 shells. Leo has 7 shells. How many more shells does Mia have than Leo?
2. 2 The red team scored 9 points. The blue team scored 15 points. How many fewer points did the red team score?
3. 3 There are 18 girls and 11 boys in the class. How many more girls than boys are there?
4. 4 Ben has 6 toy cars. Sam has 8 more cars than Ben. How many cars does Sam have?
5. 5 Ava picked 20 apples. Jay picked 5 fewer apples than Ava. How many apples did Jay pick?
6. 6 A blue fish is 14 inches long. A green fish is 9 inches long. How much longer is the blue fish?

Words on this sheet

shellspointsgirlscarsapplesinches

Teacher tip

Line up two rows of cubes to compare. The extra cubes are the difference.

How to use it

• Read each problem out loud for kids who are still building reading skills.
• Teach a routine: read it, picture it, circle the question, solve, check.
• Do the first problem together under a document camera, then let kids finish on their own.

Watch for

Kids who grab the numbers and add without reading. Ask them to retell the story first.

Talk about it

• Does your answer make sense in the story?
• Which problem was the hardest? What made it hard?

Take it further

Pick one problem and change one number. How does the answer change?

US Letter, prints well in black and white. Free for home and classroom use: print as many copies as you need.