Five pages of compare stories with two-digit numbers. On page 1 students count up from the smaller number to the bigger one on an open number line; the key counts up to the next ten, then the tens, then the ones (37 to 40 to 50 to 52 is 15). Page 2 asks how many fewer, the same difference asked the other way. Page 3 shows a two-bar model for each story, one bar a person. Page 4 gives one amount and how many more or fewer the other has. Page 5 is the challenge: "Kai has 38. That is 16 fewer than Ella has" means Ella has more, so you add; students write the numbers into the bars before they solve. Every page starts with a worked example.
Draw the example on page 1 as two bars on the board, one under the other, and shade the extra part of the longer bar: that is the difference. On page 5, have students say who has more before they write anything; the bars show it.
Compare two things you can count, like the pages in two books or the steps to two rooms. Ask how many more, then how many fewer. It is the same number, asked two ways.
This pack supports the following Common Core State Standards for Mathematics:
© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.
A 5-page compare word problems pack for 2nd grade, with two-digit numbers within 100. Count up on an open number line to find how many more, solve how many fewer stories, and use two-bar models to find the bigger or smaller amount. Then finish with the tricky stories whose words point the other way ("That is 16 fewer than Ella has"). Every page comes in color and in black and white. Answer keys included.
Tell us what to make next, or build your own with a worksheet maker.
This worksheet is free to download, print, copy, and hand out in your classroom or at home. You do not need to create an account, and there are no watermarks on the PDF.
