Whole Language Approach in Solving Word Problems

Barbara Thomas                 Langston Hughes School
                               226 W. 104th Street
                               Chicago IL 60628
                               312-535-5075

Objectives:

     To formulate addition and subtraction problems of whole numbers.  To relate 
everyday language to mathematics meaningfully.  To use problem-solving 
approaches to investigate and understand mathematical content.  To identify 
point of view in a selection. 

Materials needed:

      1. The Real Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
      2. The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone
      3. Math vocabulary cards for words such as the following:
         altogether     in all      many more
         each           left        total
      4. Reading vocabulary cards for the following words:
         Al          blow     brick    cake     granny    house   jail
         Magic       Michael  newspaper         Sean      stick   straw
      5. Crayons
      6. Pencils 
      7. Plus and minus cards for every child
      8. Head bands for three pigs (pink) and one wolf (brown) 
      9. Ditto to make equations
     10. Objects to represent story problems (books, balls, pencils) 
      
Strategy:
          
      This presentation is appropriate for use with primary children. The 
teacher will review the story of the The Three Little Pigs.  After discussion, 
the teacher will call four students to represent the characters of the story.  
The teacher will have students answers questions from a card listing age, 
favorite toy and food and how much money each character has.  Using the 
characters the teacher will review the story and make up story problems and 
answer them.  
 
     Read The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs.  Ask appropriate questions about 
the story.  Give the pretest.  Give story problems orally having the students 
put the correct answer only on the test. After the pretest, the teacher will go 
over the story problems using role playing with the students.  Explain to the 
students that we must find a better way to solve story problems. 
 
     Introduce the math vocabulary words.  Tell them that each word has a 
correct operation.  Example: "in all" means to add (+) or "many more" means to 
subtract (-).  Pass out the + and - cards.  As you say a story problem, have 
students hold up the correct card.  You may also have students make up story 
problems orally.  Another student will give the answer. 

Performance Assessment: 

     Tell the students that you forgot to tell them that they must decide who is 
telling the truth, the pig or the wolf.  They must write some sentences telling 
who they believe and why.  Also draw a picture.  
               
     Finally the students will write story problems using the above math 
vocabulary words. 

Multicultural:

     Students should know that many people contributed to the development of 
modern arithmetic and the origins of arithmetic are international. 

Conclusion:

     The student will be able to identify key words in solving addition and 
subtraction word problems. 
     The student will be able to identify point of view in a selection.