Last updated 2026-10-26. Written by the TernQuest team. This guide is for parents of 1st through 5th graders who can do the arithmetic but freeze at a word problem, and who want one routine that works from single-step addition through multi-step fraction problems.
Why are word problems so hard for kids who know the math?
Direct answer: Because a word problem asks for two skills that plain arithmetic does not: understanding a situation and choosing the operation that matches it. A child who knows 12 − 5 = 7 still has to work out that a story about a bus is a "take some away" story. Most word-problem trouble is not computation trouble; it is not knowing what is happening before the numbers start.
Two habits make it worse: grabbing the numbers and doing something to them ("12 and 5, so 17"), and keyword hunting, covered below. Both avoid the story, and a four-step routine is designed to interrupt them.
What is the 4-step strategy?
Direct answer: Read, retell, draw or model, solve and check. The child reads the problem twice, retells it in their own words without numbers, draws a quick model that shows what is known and what is missing, then computes and checks the answer against the story. The two middle steps are the strategy.
| Step | What the child does | What you ask |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Read | Reads the problem twice; the second time, finds the question | "What is it asking you to find?" |
| 2. Retell | Says what is happening in their own words, no numbers | "Tell me the story without any numbers." |
| 3. Draw or model | Sketches it: objects, a bar model, a number line | "Show me what you know and what is missing." |
| 4. Solve and check | Computes, then reads the answer back into the story | "Does that make sense? Is the answer bigger or smaller than you expected?" |
Quotable version: "Read it, retell it without numbers, draw it, then solve and check it against the story."
Step 2 is the one to insist on
Retelling without numbers forces the child to understand the situation. "A girl had some stickers, she gave some to her brother, and we want to know how many she has now." Once the child can say that, "take away" is obvious. A child who cannot retell the problem is not ready to compute, and the fix is reading the problem again, not a hint about the operation.
Step 3 makes the operation visible
Drawing is not for decoration. A picture of 12 stickers with 5 crossed out makes subtraction visible; a bar with two parts and a question mark makes "which part is missing" visible. As problems get harder, the model gets more abstract, from objects to bars to number lines, but there is always a model.
What are keyword traps, and why should we avoid them?
Direct answer: Keyword lists ("altogether means add, left means subtract, each means multiply") fail because the words describe the story, not the operation. The same word appears in problems that need different operations, and children taught to hunt keywords stop reading. Teach the situation types instead, and let the child's drawing show the operation.
| Keyword | What kids are told | A problem where it fails |
|---|---|---|
| altogether | Add | "There are 12 apples altogether. 5 are red. How many are green?" (subtract) |
| left | Subtract | "Sam has 5 stickers left after giving away 7. How many did he start with?" (add) |
| more | Add | "Ava has 9. That is 3 more than Ben. How many does Ben have?" (subtract) |
| each | Multiply | "24 cookies are shared so each child gets 6. How many children?" (divide) |
The situations behind addition and subtraction problems are few: putting together, taking apart, adding to, taking from, and comparing, with the unknown in any position. A child who can retell and draw the problem does not need the keyword.
How do bar models work?
Direct answer: A bar model is a rectangle that stands for the whole, split into parts that stand for the quantities in the problem. Label what you know, put a question mark on what you do not, and the picture shows whether the missing piece is a part (subtract) or the whole (add). For multiplication and division, the bar is split into equal parts. For fractions, the bar is the whole and the parts are the fraction.
Part-whole bar
"Maya has 12 stickers. 5 are stars. The rest are hearts. How many hearts?"
|------------ 12 ------------|
| 5 stars | ? hearts |
The whole is known, one part is known, so the other part is 12 − 5 = 7. The same picture with the whole unknown ("5 stars and 7 hearts, how many stickers?") shows addition. This is the number-bond idea from the number bonds and make-ten post drawn as a bar, which is why 1st graders who know part-part-whole take to bar models quickly.
Comparison bar
"Ava has 9 marbles. That is 3 more than Ben. How many does Ben have?"
Ava |--------- 9 ---------|
Ben |------ ? ------| 3 |
Two bars, the difference marked. Ben's bar is shorter, so Ben has 9 − 3 = 6. This is the problem type keyword-hunters get wrong every time, and the picture makes it plain.
Equal-groups bar
"4 boxes hold 6 crayons each. How many crayons?"
| 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | → ? in all
Four equal parts, whole unknown: 4 × 6 = 24. Flip it ("24 crayons in 4 equal boxes, how many in each?") and the parts are unknown: 24 ÷ 4 = 6. The division for 3rd graders post uses the same bar for sharing and grouping.
What do word problems look like at each grade?
Direct answer: The four steps do not change from 1st to 5th grade; the models and the number of steps do. First graders draw objects and solve one step within 20. Third graders use bar models and solve two-step problems with all four operations. Fifth graders model fractions and decimals and solve multi-step problems where the hardest part is deciding the order. Your school's pacing may differ.
| Grade | Typical problem | Model | Steps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | "There are 8 ducks on the pond. Some more come. Now there are 13. How many came?" | Drawn objects or a ten frame | One step, within 20 |
| 2nd | "Jo had 45 cents. She spent 20 cents on a sticker and 15 on a pencil. How much is left?" | Part-whole bar with three parts | Two steps, within 100 |
| 3rd | "A baker made 6 trays of 8 muffins and sold 30. How many are left?" | Equal-groups bar, then part-whole | Two steps, multiply then subtract |
| 4th | "A ribbon is 3/4 meter. Two pieces of 1/4 meter are cut off. How much is left?" | Fraction bar in quarters | Two steps, like denominators |
| 5th | "A recipe needs 2.5 cups of flour per batch. How much flour for 3 batches, and how much is left from a 10-cup bag?" | Number line or bar in tenths | Multi-step, decimals |
For the 3rd grade example: retell ("a baker made some muffins, sold some, how many are still there"), draw an equal-groups bar then a part-whole bar, compute 6 × 8 = 48 and 48 − 30 = 18, and check that 18 is less than 48. The 3rd grade math checklist lists two-step problems like this as a year-end expectation.
How do I practice word problems at home?
Direct answer: A couple of problems a few times a week, worked slowly through all four steps, beat a page of problems done fast. Make the child say the retell out loud and draw before touching numbers. Write problems about your own household, since a child will retell a story about their own dog more readily than one about a stranger's bus.
A short routine:
- Pick one problem from homework or make one up from dinner.
- Cover the numbers the first time through and ask for the retell.
- Draw together the first few times; then hand over the pencil.
- Ask for an estimate before computing, and "does it make sense?" after.
Include start-unknown ("some came, now there are 13") and comparison ("3 more than") problems on purpose; those are the ones children avoid. If the arithmetic itself is the block, see the math fact fluency post first.
Where do learning games fit with word problems?
Direct answer: Games are useful for the repetitions once the routine exists: many short problems with a model available and a hint when stuck. TernQuest's word-problem items are built to the grade's California Common Core standards, and Pip's hints point at the step ("what is the story asking for?") rather than the answer, which is the coaching the four-step routine needs.
A game is not the place to learn the routine. Retelling out loud and drawing on paper do not happen well on a screen, so do the first few weeks at the table and then let a game supply practice.
Related reading
- Number bonds and the make-ten strategy — part-part-whole is the bar model's foundation.
- 3rd grade math skills checklist (2026) — two-step word problems as a year-end expectation.
- Math fact fluency: what it is and how to build it — when arithmetic, not comprehension, is the block.
Next step
Take one problem from tonight's homework, cover the numbers, and ask your child to tell you the story. When the retell and the drawing are habits, TernQuest is free to start for one child and its word-problem practice is organized by the same grade standards used above.