Rationale
Every year my students struggle with story problems and never really develop the ability to solve them even though they master addition and subtraction facts. EVERY YEAR! Why does this happen? Why can they not transfer what they know about addition and subtraction facts to written story problems?
Story problems are a challenging topic in first grade, even for students who are reading on grade level. First grade students are just learning to add and subtract, so doing story problems is even more difficult since they must first be able to read the problems. Once they can read, the student then must decide what the problem is asking them to do. Next, they must set up the equation, and finally solve the problem. This is a lot to ask of 1st graders and even 2nd graders.
I believe by starting story problems the very first week (with problems being read by me and then having students echo read the problem) and keeping the theme the same in the problems will help build their confidence and comprehension of math story problems and reading.
Why are story problems so hard! How can I teach it so that my students have a better understanding of what the problem is asking them? I will introduce my students to all of the fourteen types of one step addition and subtraction problems described in the Common Core taxonomy1. I will start at the beginning of school (I will read the problem and the students will then echo read the problem) and have a story problem time of day at the beginning of math every day. We will keep the theme of the problem the same for many days, but will vary the type of problem. I will lead class discussions that will give students a chance to make conclusions about how the problems are alike or different, paying close attention to inverse operations. I will ask my class, “Should we add or subtract?”, and have students explain their choices, then come to a final (correct) decision with a “How do you know” discussion.
In my current curriculum, the theme of the problem changes daily and this causes students to spend so much time trying to decode the words in the problem, that they forget what the problem is asking them to do. For students to truly have an understanding of story problems they must first internalize the concepts of addition and subtraction. Memorization of facts will not accomplish this, instead students must learn to compose (put together) and decompose (taking apart) numbers. Fluency of math facts and reading will only come with time and practice, and both can be promoted through class discussion of word problems.
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