Picture Word Problems

Grade level

1st grade

Time

About 15 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

“Listen to the story. Draw it. Count. Write the answer.”

Printed on the sheet:

1. 1 There are 3 cats on the mat. 2 more cats come. How many cats are on the mat now?
2. 2 Bo has 4 balloons. 1 balloon pops. How many balloons does Bo have left?
3. 3 2 frogs sit on a log. 3 frogs sit in the pond. How many frogs are there in all?
4. 4 There are 6 cookies. The bee eats 2 cookies. How many cookies are left?

Teacher tip

Read the stories aloud and let kids draw first. The drawing is the math at this age.

How to use it

• Let kids act out a problem or draw it before they write a number sentence.
• Have partners solve the same problem two ways and compare.
• Do the first problem together under a document camera, then let kids finish on their own.

Watch for

Answers with no unit. Ask “Twelve what?”

Talk about it

• Which words in the story tell you what to do?
• Which problem was the hardest? What made it hard?

Take it further

Use the class lunch count, weather chart or library books to make real word problems.

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