Week 10: Multiplication Word Problems

Good evening and welcome to Week 10 of my blog entry.

This week, I worked with my students on how to effectively interpret and complete multiplication word problems. 

I preface my lesson by reminding my students that "reading and math are friends," which means that when you see a word problem, you have to circle important information and underline what the problem is asking you to do. 

So, if a puppy weighs 18 pounds and Jayla says her dog weight 4 times as much as the puppy, the question is "what are we given," and "what do we need to solve for?" 

I circle "18 pounds" because that is our given, and I circle "4 times" because that tells us that this is a multiplication problem and we must multiply our given by 4.

The student may use an area model to complete this problem, but most of my students are at the point where they are able to use standard algorithm multiplication to complete this problem.

They know that 4x8 is 32. Carry the 3 above the 1 in 18. Then, 1x4 is 4. 4+3 is 7. So, the product is 72.

This is when I ask my students if we are finished with the problem? Of course, we are not.

The students must include the unit of measurement which is pounds. If they don't include this, then they will lose credit. This may sound trivial, but it's important to note because the question in the word problem is "What is the weight of Jayla's dog?" If students just write "72," they have the correct product, but they are not answering the question.

Students must write a sentence to answer the written question. In the sentence, they must include the correct product and the correct unit of measurement.