Printable activities: locate the story problem (Grade 1)

📚 What are 'Locate the Story Problem' Activities?

In first grade, 'locate the story problem' activities are designed to help you improve your reading comprehension and problem-solving skills. They focus on identifying the question being asked in a word problem before you even try to solve it. This is a super important step, because knowing what the problem *is* helps you decide how to solve it!

📜 History of Story Problems in Education

Story problems have been around for ages! Think back to ancient civilizations using math to calculate land or trade goods. Over time, story problems became a common way to teach practical math skills, helping people see how math applies to everyday life. Now, we use 'locate the problem' activities to build a strong foundation for more complex problem-solving later on.

🔑 Key Principles of Identifying the Story Problem

• 🧐 Read Carefully: Read the entire story problem slowly and carefully. Don't rush!
• 🔍 Find the Question Words: Look for words like 'how many,' 'what is,' 'how much,' or 'find.' These often point to the question being asked.
• 🧠 Understand the Context: Think about what the story is about. What are the people or objects doing? This helps you understand what kind of question to expect.
• 💡 Underline or Highlight: Use a pencil or highlighter to mark the sentence that contains the question. This helps you focus on what you need to find out.
• 📝 Rephrase the Question: Put the question in your own words. This can help you understand it better. For example, 'How many apples are left?' could become 'What is the final number of apples?'

🍎 Real-World Examples

Let's look at some examples:

Example 1: Sarah has 5 red balloons and 3 blue balloons. What is the total number of balloons Sarah has?

• 🔎 The Question: What is the total number of balloons Sarah has?

Example 2: Tom had 10 cookies. He ate 4 cookies. How many cookies does Tom have left?

• 🔎 The Question: How many cookies does Tom have left?

Example 3: There are 7 birds sitting on a tree branch. 2 birds flew away. How many birds are still on the branch?

• 🔎 The Question: How many birds are still on the branch?

✍️ Practice Quiz

Read each story problem carefully and identify the question being asked.

Question 1: Lisa has 6 crayons. She gives 2 crayons to her friend. How many crayons does Lisa have now?

Question 2: John has 4 toy cars. Maria has 3 toy cars. What is the combined number of toy cars they have?

Question 3: There are 9 students in the class. 3 students are absent today. How many students are present?

Question 4: A baker made 12 cupcakes. He sold 5 cupcakes. How many cupcakes are left?

Question 5: There are 8 ducks swimming in a pond. 4 more ducks join them. What is the total number of ducks in the pond?

Question 6: A farmer planted 15 seeds. 7 seeds grew into plants. How many seeds did not grow?

Question 7: A store had 20 books. They sold 11 books. How many books are remaining in the store?

💡 Conclusion

Learning to locate the story problem is a fantastic first step in becoming a problem-solving pro! Keep practicing, and you'll become a story problem superstar in no time! 🎉