Brain Burners Math Word Problem Examples Packet

This is a Brain Burners Word Problem Packet.

These word problems are designed to allow students to use their own strategies for problem solving, regardless of how far from “typical” they might seem to you as an educator. You will be amazed at the ways students will find to get to a right answer.

There is not one right answer for any of these problems. Students will fill in the missing pieces of the problem before solving them using any strategy that makes sense in their own brains.

I generally use these as morning self-starters 1 or 2 times per week. You’ll want to do the first few as a group, showing examples of students who thought of different strategies, and doing a lot of talking about what you expect a final product to look like. Many students might be lost for the first several problems, but after seeing their classmates’ work, they will catch on.

The first 20 brain burners are technically geared toward using addition and subtraction strategies (NBT), but higher-level students might use multiplication and division strategies as well. The next 20 are meant to follow the OA curriculum where students will use multiplication and division, but lower-level students may still opt for addition and subtraction.

Students should be encouraged, if not required, to show their thought processes through pictures, graphs, charts, and/or equations. I will usually call on a few students to show their strategies and explain them to the class each time I do a brain burner, thus giving the rest of the class new ideas for problem solving.

There are two formats for you to choose from. I prefer my students to have plenty of room to work with, but I know paper conservation is also important.

A 62 page printable PDF