Word Problems: 1st Grade

Grade level

1st grade

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. Draw a picture or write a number sentence. Write the answer.”

Printed on the sheet:

1. 1 Maya has 8 stickers. Her friend gives her 5 more. How many stickers does
2. 2 There are 15 ducks in the pond. 7 ducks fly away. How many ducks are left?
3. 3 Leo drew 6 robots on Monday and 9 robots on Tuesday. How many robots did he draw in all?
4. 4 A box has 12 crayons. 4 crayons are broken. How many crayons are not broken?
5. 5 Sam read 7 books. Ava read 3 more books than Sam. How many books did
6. 6 There were 9 cupcakes on a plate. Now there are 2. How many cupcakes were eaten?

Words on this sheet

ducksrobotscrayonsbooks

Teacher tip

Read each problem aloud twice. The “some went away” and “how many more” stories are the ones to talk through together.

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

• What label goes with your answer?
• 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.