Manipulative materials makes math tangible for students. Bring in items the students can add together as a class or individually. Apples, gummy bears, small candies or Popsicle sticks. Having various colors of each adds another element to the lesson. Students should have paper to record their findings. Use preprinted sheets if the students are to sort materials before counting. Graphing paper is another option, as the lines can be used as a guide for creating columns. A smart board or chalkboard can be used for classroom activities. A story mat with counters that stick to the board is a useful visual tool.
Have two student volunteers stand at the front of the class. Give each student several apples and have them stand on opposite sides of the room. Ask the class to count how many apples student A is holding. Put that number in a column on the smart board, chalkboard or story mat while phrasing it like a story problem. For example, you would say, “Kate has two apples,” then put two counters in the first column. Ask the class to count how many apples student B is holding. Put that number in a second column on the smart board, chalkboard or story mat, again phrasing it like a story problem (“Dan has four apples.”) Ask the class how many apples Kate and Dan would have if they combined their apples.
Students can do this activity individually at their desks by counting gummy bears, candies or Popsicle sticks as you read problems in the form of a story. For example, you could say, “If Johnny has three sticks and Judy has six sticks, how many do they have together?”
Hand out preprinted sheets of addition story problems for students to work on in the classroom or as homework. Keep reading levels in mind when selecting student worksheets. A child with strong math skills may not be able to complete the homework if he does not have the reading comprehension to understand the question. Select story problems that include scenarios that are relevant and familiar to most students.
Instruct children to follow four steps to solve the story problems. The first step is to understand the question. The child may need to read the question more than once to understand. The second step is to make an equation. This is the addition problem in the story. The third step is to solve the equation. The last is to read the question again to see if the answer solved the problem. These four steps can help students solve story problems from elementary through high school.