Solving multi-step problems Ms. Csipak

What to keep in mind: Which operation to use = hardest part There may be two or more operations Be sure you know: what is being asked what you already know from the problem what you need to know in order to solve the question

cubes

Math “action” words:

Problem 1: stopping too soon Example: Ms. Csipak is reading a geography textbook that has 376 pages. She read 47 pages on Tuesday night, and 56 pages on Wednesday night. How many pages does she have left to read? Use the CUBES system What is the question asking?

Problem 2: Too much information  you won’t know if your answer is reasonable if you don’t understand what you are being asked to solve. Use CUBES to check your understanding of the question: A man bought a dozen boxes, each with 24 highlighter pens inside, for $8 each box. He repacked five of these boxes into packages of six highlighters each, and sold them for $3 per package. He sold the rest of the highlighters separately at the rate of three pens for $2. How much profit did he make? Problem from: http://www.helpingwithmath.com/by_subject/word_problems/wor_multistep01_4oa3.htm

ALWAYS CONCLUDE WITH A SENTENCE Solve and Check At the end of a word problem: Write the answer in a sentence, the sentence should be answering your question, if it doesn’t answer the question, it doesn’t make sense. ALWAYS CONCLUDE WITH A SENTENCE

You can use this guide:

Don’t be afraid to DRAW! Think of ways to combine the information into lists Decide on a starting point and work in order Keep one item the same while others change Fill in any gaps Record the solution so it is easy to understand Ms. Tanya likes to stack her stickers in an orderly way on her desk. She puts 1 sticker in the first stack, 3 stickers in the second stack and 5 stickers in the third. Following the same pattern, how many stickers will she place in the sixth stack? After she makes the sixth stack, how many stickers will Liz have on her desk?

Now you try all of our strategies: Ms. Tanya likes to stack her stickers in an orderly way on her desk. She puts 1 sticker in the first stack, 3 stickers in the second stack and 5 stickers in the third. Following the same pattern, how many stickers will she place in the sixth stack? After she makes the sixth stack, how many stickers will Liz have on her desk?