Lesson 14
Solve It Your Way
Lesson Purpose
The purpose of this lesson is for students to represent and solve one- and two-step story problems. Students use representations to make sense of problems, support their calculations, and explain their thinking.
Lesson Narrative
In previous lessons, students solved different problem types within 100. Students made sense of story problems and connected story problems to diagrams and equations. The activities in this lesson can be used to assess the methods students use to make sense of and solve story problems on their own. Students are introduced to the idea that story problems could have more than one step. In the first activity, students solve a Put Together / Take Apart, Result Unknown problem that includes three addends. Students are presented the story in two separate parts. In the second activity, students work in groups to solve related story problems on their own and then work together to solve a two-step Put Together / Take Apart problem.
- Action and Expression
- MLR8
Learning Goals
Teacher Facing
- Use diagrams or equations to represent and solve one- and two-step story problems within 100.
Student Facing
- Let’s solve story problems and share our thinking with others.
Required Materials
Materials to Gather
Required Preparation
Lesson Timeline
| Warm-up | 10 min |
| Activity 1 | 15 min |
| Activity 2 | 20 min |
| Lesson Synthesis | 10 min |
| Cool-down | 5 min |
Teacher Reflection Questions
Think about times when students were able to make connections to and build on the ideas of their peers during discussions today. What norms or routines allowed students to engage with other students’ ideas?
Suggested Centers
- Target Numbers (1–5), Stage 5: Subtract Two-digit Numbers (Addressing)
- Capture Squares (1–3), Stage 4: Subtract within 20 (Addressing)
- Math Stories (K–2), Stage 4: Add and Subtract (Supporting)