Skills Covered

How to Use This Pack

Four pages of Halloween story problems, five on each page. Page 1 is all adding and page 2 is all subtracting, both within 20. Page 3 mixes the problem types that trip students up: comparing, finding how many more are needed, a start-unknown problem, and adding three numbers. Page 4 moves to two-digit numbers within 100 and ends with a two-step problem.

In the Classroom

Read each problem aloud together first, then ask students what is happening in the story before they choose to add or subtract. Page 3 works well as a partner page: one student solves, the other checks with a drawing.

At Home

Act the stories out with real candy or small toys. Have your child draw a quick picture or a number line before writing the answer, and ask them to tell you how they solved it.

Tips for Success

• Underline the question in each problem before solving
• Draw a picture, a number line, or a ten frame to show your thinking
• On page 3, read "fewer than" carefully: it does not always mean subtract
• First graders can stop after page 3; page 4 is for 2nd grade

Common Core Standards Alignment

This pack supports the following Common Core State Standards for Mathematics:

• 1.OA.A.1 - Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word problems involving adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions
• 1.OA.A.2 - Solve word problems that call for addition of three whole numbers whose sum is less than or equal to 20
• 2.OA.A.1 - Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve one- and two-step word problems