Typical problems using addition involve combining items to find the total. Context clues for addition involve the phrases "how many altogether, "in all" or "what is the total."
Take this sample question: There are 28 10-year-olds and 23 11-year-olds on the school boys' soccer teams. How many boys are on the teams altogether? This word "altogether" directs students to combine the amounts of students to find the sum of the total number of students.
Subtraction involves knowing the total and breaking it into parts or comparing amounts. Context clues include phrases such as "how many more," "what is the difference," and "how many are left." Typical subtraction problems using money may involve making a purchase, giving the cashier a certain amount of money and asking how much change will be received.
Such a question could read like this: Kayla purchased a box of crayons costing $1.88. She gave the cashier $2.00. How much change will Kayla receive? This directs students to subtract the cost from the amount given to find the amount of change owed.
Multiplication problems generally require the student to identify smaller amounts and combine them to find the total. A key context clue is the word "each," indicating that the amount for one is the same amount for all. Words similar to addition clues include the words "in all" and "altogether."
An example question is: Thirty students collected box tops tickets for a school fundraiser. Each student collected 24 box tops. How many box tops were collected in all? Students are directed to multiply 30 x 24 to find the answer.
Division problems typically involve taking a total amount and separating it into even groups finding either the number of groups or the number in each group. Context clues involve words and phrases such as "divided into groups," "placed into groups," or "put the same amount into groups."
Students are directed to divide 234 by 9 to find the number of groups in the following question. There were 234 students in the auditorium in rows. Each row had nine seats. If the same number of students were in each row, how many rows of 9 were there?