Upper Juniors Parents’ Guide: How to help your
child to solve Maths problems
Trinity CE Primary School, Henley-on-Thames
November 2013
Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
1
Aim…………………………………………………………………Page 2
Types of Maths problems…………………………………………...Page 2
Steps involved in solving a Maths problem………………………….Page 3
Relating calculations to real-life scenarios…………………………..Page 3
Identifying relevant and irrelevant information……………………...Page 4
Further practice for more confident children………………………Page 4
Example word problems…………………………………………….Page 4
1. Aim
Teachers often get asked what they can do to help their children with their Maths skills. One common
difficulty that Upper Junior children face is being able to apply their calculation skills to solving word
problems. This guide aims to support parents who wish to help their children with this.
2. Types of Maths problems
Maths problems usually have a real-life context. These contexts could include:
-
Money
Measurement (mass, length, capacity)
Time
Numbers of different real-life objects
One step word problems
One step word problems require just one calculation to be done.
For example: In a game Sadie scored 132 and Jake scored 227. What was their total score?
The answer can be found through one calculation:
132 + 227 = 359.
Multi-step word problems
Multi-step word problem require two or more separate calculations to be done.
For example: A ferry can take 271 passengers. There are already 184 on board. A travel agent booked
another 95 people for the cruise. How many people will not be able to travel?
The answer requires multiple calculations:
i)
ii)
271 – 184 = 87 so there are 87 seats leftover.
95 – 87 = 8 so 8 people will not be able to travel
Further examples of Maths word problems for Upper Juniors can be found in Section 7.
2
3. Steps involved in solving a Maths problem
One reason why children struggle with Maths problems is that there are quite a few steps that they have
to think through before they come up with an answer.
1. First they must identify the problem. What is it that I am trying to find out?
2. Then they must identify the key bits of information/numbers that are required to solve the
problem. What are the important bits of information that I already know?
3. They need to decide which calculation they need to do. Does this problem need me to add?
Subtract? Multiply? Or divide? Or do more than one of these?
4. After this they need to solve the calculation(s). NB: finding an answer to the calculation doesn’t
always solve the Maths problem. Sometimes the answer then needs to have a unit added to it
or needs to be rounded up or down.
5. Finally the answer needs to be checked for accuracy.
In order to help children with this process, many teachers teach children about RUCSAC.
R – Read – read through the problem
U – Understand/Underline – understand/underline important mathematical words/numbers
C – Calculate – recognise the calculation(s) that are needed to solve the problem. Do I need to
add/subtract/multiply/divide or do more than one calculation (ie is it a multi-step problem)?
S – Solve – do the calculation(s)
A – Answer – re-read the problem, use the appropriate units of measurement if needed, decide whether
the answer makes sense, relate the answer to the original problem.
C – Check – check the answer by estimating/re-doing the calculation in a different way, decide again
whether the answer makes sense
4. Relating calculations to real-life scenarios
Some children find it difficult to relate what they learn in the classroom to the outside world. Parents can
really help children to start understanding real-life contexts of Maths.
This can be done in two ways:
1. Talk about and involve your child in everyday situations that you might use Maths. Discuss whether
the child
- Counting, weighing, measuring capacity and timing when cooking.
- Converting a recipe for 4 people to one for 6 people.
- Talking about time, referring to clock, discussing how long it will take to do dishes and
whether you will be finished before a certain TV programme.
- Involving children in measuring and calculating amounts of materials eg how much wood
is needed for shelves, how much carpet etc
- Handling amounts of money when shopping, working out costs, working out prices of
sale items.
3
-
Working out how much petrol will be used on a journey, working out when you will
next have to fill up.
2. Play games that involve number and talk about the calculations involved.
- Play scrabble and allow your child to keep the score. Calculations involved would be
adding and multiplying for double or triple word score.
- Monopoly
5. Identifying relevant and irrelevant information
Another way of building up children’s problem solving skill is by teaching them to identify relevant
information and irrelevant information.
One way to do this is to make it into a game. After your child has solved a word problem ask them to add
some irrelevant information.
For example: There were 25 people in the cinema. 10 more people arrived. How many people were there
altogether? might become There were 25 people in the cinema to see the film Tarzan. They all had popcorn. 10
more people arrived on the number 208 bus. How many people were there altogether?
There are some example problems containing irrelevant information in Section 7
6. Further practice for more confident children
Give your child answers ie £7.99 or 60 grams and ask them to come up with a word problem that would
lead to that answer.
Give your child occasional problems which cannot be solved because there is some missing information.
Children could re-write the problem so that it can be solved.
7. Example word problems
One step word problems
A train was carrying 926 passengers. 258 got off. How many were left on the train?
(A : 668)
There are 12 candles in a box. How many candles are there in 7 boxes?
(A : 84)
Anita has 130 stick insects. Sally has half as many. How many stick insects does
Sally have?
(A : 65)
I think of a number and divide it by 13. The answer is 11. What was my number?
(A : 143)
A school has 558 pupils. There are 31 pupils in each class. How many classes are
4
there?
(A : 18)
There are 624 marbles in a jar. Joe sells 3/4 of them. How many does he sell?
(A : 468)
Paul counts 1321 red cars. Gail counts 635 blue cars. How many more red cars are
there than blue?
(A : 686)
The average age of pupils in a class is 11. If there are 32 pupils, what is their total
age?
(A : 352)
A jar contains 138 red buttons, 97 green buttons and 245 yellow buttons. How many
buttons are there altogether?
(A : 480)
Multi-step word problems
A ferry can take 271 passengers. There are already 184 on board. A travel agent
has booked another 95 people for the cruise. How many people will not be able
to travel?
(A: 8)
A school has 376 children. 159 of them visit a museum and 148 go to a farm. How
many are left in the school?
(A: 69)
Lisa buys a television for £398 and a video recorder for £299. If she has £750,
can she afford also to buy a radio for £54? How much will she have left or be
short?
(A: No, -£1)
The thickness of 6 coins is 6 millimetres. How many coins are needed to make a
pile 1 metre high?
(A:1000)
An adult rail ticket costs £112 and a child’s ticket costs half price. How much
short would a family of two adults and three children travel be if they had £390?
(A: £2)
A jumbo airliner holds 382 passengers. How many jumbos are needed for 3000
passengers? Would there be any empty seats and if so how many?
(A: 8,Yes,56)
A shop is giving a 15% discount on tapes and 20% on CDs. How much discount
will there be on a £15 tape and a £20 CD pack?
(A: £6.25)
A 37 centimetre length and a 45 centimetre length are cut off a 25 metre ball of
string. What length of string is left?
(A: 24.18m)
A bus left London at 09:00 and arrived at Leeds at 13:00. The journey is
approximately 200 miles. On average how many miles did the bus travel each
hour?
(A: 50 miles)
The edge of a solid cube is 5 centimetres long. What is the surface area of the
whole cube?
(A:150cm2)
5
Word problems containing irrelevant information
There are 10 people on a red bus. 5 are sitting on top. At the next stop 3 more get on the bus. How many
are there are on the bus?
I made 6 brandy snaps. Tom made 10 brandy snaps and Jo made 12 gingerbread men. How many brandy
snaps did we make altogether?
Scott bought 6 ice cream cones for his family. He gave them to his mum, dad, 2 brothers and 2 sisters.
They cost £1 each. How much did he spend?
Ann invited 7 people to her 10th birthday party in July. They all ate 2 raspberry jellies. How many jellies did
they eat altogether?
6