Welcome to Ms. Smith's Third Grade!

It is important for students to develop effective problem solving strategies since they are needed in all aspects of life.  The way to do this is to learn how to think about problems and achieve solutions in a way that makes sense. Many word problems are more than one step and require an organized way of approaching the problem.  The strategy that will be modeled word problem solving in our classroom is K-W-H-L.

K - what do we already KNOW about the problem?Underline/Highlight the information that is given in the problem.

W - WHAT are we trying to find out? Circle the question that we are trying to answer; it is generally found at the end of the word problem.

H - HOW can we solve the problem? What operations and strategies can we use to find the answer?

L - Did we LEARN what we were trying to find out? Go back and look at the question (what you were trying to find out).  Does your answer make sense?

You can create a KWHL template by simply folding a sheet of paper into 4 columns and title each column as mentioned above.  Using a template allows students to isolate the word problem and view it in manageable parts. A template is not required when completing word problems, however, this approach is what we will use.

Here is a list of problem solving strategies that we will use.  Though some strategies require less work than others, it is important that students show their work while solving problems.  Encouraging students to show their thinking allows me to see how much they clearly understand the problem and where they may be getting "stuck."

•  Find a pattern
• Make a table
• Work backwards
• Guess and check
• Draw a picture/Act it out
• Write a number sentence
• Make a list
• Use logical reasoning

Click here for an example of each strategy (except logical reasoning).