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Word problems stump virtually every child in our classrooms. When students are faced with them, they often freeze, guess, or strip numbers from a word problem, fling them at an operation, and hope for the best. Word problems and problem solving are essential for students to build that foundation and deeper thinking. It’s like the broccoli of a meal. It’s vital for vitamins and health, but not the best tasting to a child. And we know we don’t feel warm and fuzzy about them either, am I right? When we have a classroom full of mixed-ability levels, time pressure, and an endless parade of standards, we can easily feel overwhelmed, underprepared, frustrated, and pressured. It doesn’t help repeating ourselves repeatedly, causing us to worry about whether we are teaching it well or are confused about how. So, how can we help students understand what they are reading and solve problems confidently, without burdening ourselves? Basically, how do we convince them to eat the broccoli?
It’s not so much the math that students struggle with, but the language of the word problems. For students, they feel like sneaky little riddles. There’s vocabulary, multi-step directions, context they may not relate to, and sometimes even misleading numbers. It’s really about interpretation rather than computation.
Teachers use widely popular acronyms, such as CUBES and RIPES, to solve word problems in upper elementary classes. However, these strategies have hidden pitfalls. While trying to give students a structured approach, they often oversimplify problem-solving and train students to focus on surface-level “clues” rather than deep understanding.
The most common strategy used in math to solve math word problems is CUBES. If you are unfamiliar with it, this acronym stands for Circle, Underline, Box, Evaluate/Eliminate, and Solve. This method is commonly found on anchor charts, worksheets, and test prep booklets. RIPES is another strategy used for word problems. While RIPES varies slightly, the most common version is Read the problem, Identify important information, Plan how to solve, Execute the plan, Solve and check. While this strategy is meant to be more thinking-focused, it’s another checklist with no real reasoning unless taught explicitly and with intention.
These strategies can be problematic, causing students to struggle with word problems. For instance:
It’s not that acronym strategies are bad. I wrote a post back in 2018 about using STAR as a problem-solving method for word problems. So, we have all used it. But these are more about memorization than understanding. We want kids to understand word problems, visualize the story, reason through it, and choose strategies that work for them flexibly. This is what we do in other areas of math, such as multi-digit multiplication (partial products, distributive property, area models, decomposing, relationships with division, box model, etc). Oh, and Polya’s Problem-solving model? Head here to see my thoughts on it.
Now that we have discussed the commonly seen acronym strategies, let’s discuss alternatives to teach kids how to become word problem enthusiasts. Okay, maybe not that far. Decoding strategies are one alternative because solving word problems is much about reading comprehension than math. Research by Fuchs, Fuchs, and Prentice (2004) shows that students often struggle with problem solving due to difficulty understanding the context rather than the computation. Students need effective decoding to help them understand the situation, identify the relevant information, and visualize the problem. Jitendra et al. (2007) found that schema-based instruction, which teaches students to recognize problem types and structures rather than rely on keywords, leads to stronger accuracy and mathematical reasoning.
Let’s start with a problem that may seem relatively straightforward: “Jada has three boxes of pencils. Each box has 12 pencils” for our first decoding strategy.
Strip It. During Strip it, students ask, “What do I know that’s 100% fact and not fluff?” This method highlights only the numbers and units they are given, rather than the verbs. Students focus on the facts of the word problem. When students strip it, they say, “Okay, the facts I know:
Frame it. During this part of the decoding strategy, students ask themselves, “What’s the situation?” Students may draw a super-quick sketch or diagram, such as a bar model, array, or picture, to build visual reasoning and reinforce relationships.
Name it. In the last part, students will rephrase the question in a student-friendly way before they solve the word problems. They are naming the goal to solve with a purpose. They will ask themselves, “What’s the goal of the problem?” This example above could be rephrased from “How many pencils altogether?” to “How many pencils does Jada have total?”
This may seem simple or perhaps odd, but it forces clarity before students start. It also helps with multi-step problems, which most upper elementary standards require for word problems. It clarifies context clues, builds math discourse, and helps with reasoning. It slows students down to think about operations logically instead of automatically. After students read the word problem, have them write either:
We have seen this one many times in the list of strategies to try, usually under the title of “act it out.” While it is one of those things that teachers don’t want to spend time on, it’s very beneficial. It’s the “hands-on” version of word problems. Just as we no longer need to use manipulatives with fractions over time, students will eventually no longer need to roleplay the problem because they can take that once concrete understanding and apply it in an abstract situation.
It doesn’t have to be theatrical. For instance, say, “Pretend you are Jada. You would open the three boxes. What would you see?” Students can walk through the action mentally, or you could pull out the manipulatives and have students create the box. Then ask, “Where does the math happen in that situation?” This helps students discover how math applies to them in the real world.
Most of us know common strategies like making a table, list, or model, acting it out, drawing it, working backwards, identifying a pattern, guessing and checking, etc. But I will give you a more updated, engaging spin on those. Oh, and I’m skipping “read the problem twice.”
Instead of the “guess and check” strategy, build logical reasoning with a more strategic version. Give three to four answer choices with short rationales. Have students eliminate unreasonable options. This helps boost elimination and sense-making before problem-solving begins. In our example above, a teacher may say:
Color-coding helps students slow down enough to think and allows ELLs or struggling readers to separate parts of the problem visually. It supports comprehension, flexibility, and strategy selection. When used with intention, color-coding can become a tool for sense-making. Students are given 2-3 colored pencils and told to use:
At first glance, this looks similar to the acronym methods described above. The difference lies in the intent, flexibility, and cognitive engagement behind it. Color-coding is more about meaning than memorization. Students are making deliberate choices based on what each part of the problem means. For instance, students may use blue for known facts, green for the question, and orange for units or relationships. Further, color-coding can change depending on the kind of problem. In a comparison problem, students might highlight what’s being compared vs the difference, whereas in a multi-step problem, they might use different colors for each step’s data. Acronym strategies are a one-size-fits-all treatment, regardless of the word problem’s structure. We are talking about schema recognition, not just surface-level identification. Lastly, it doesn’t rely on trigger words or verbs. It teaches students to identify relationships, quantities, and units—the actual math ideas.
I want to figure out a way to do everything hands-on. I am a firm believer and advocate for hands-on activities and learning. When I mentioned role-play above, I did not say it as an idea to dismiss later. For multi-step problems, measurement-based problems, or any operational problems, give students cubes, sticky notes, tape, paper strips, or anything they can touch that will help keep spatial learners engaged and create math pictures in their brains for abstract concepts later.
Students who don’t feel they can draw from scratch well or feel overwhelmed by the idea can use this strategy for their word problems. This scaffolding idea involves giving students an empty strip diagram with blanks they must fill in, such as “What does each part mean?” “Which number goes where?” and “What’s missing?” This version gives students a pre-drawn structure split into three equal parts with partially filled labels or numbers. It helps provide focused thinking on what to do next. It keeps kids from being stuck on “how do I draw this?”
Like the think-pair-share, have students pair up and read the problem together. This can help students struggling with reading comprehension focus more on math. Then, after reading the problem, have students think and discuss what they believe is happening in the word problem. I have always tried to throw in the justification if we have time, and then have students decide together after hearing each other’s reasoning on the operation. This helps build math discourse (SMP’s) and conceptual understanding!
One of my favorite strategies (which kids always thought was fun and funny!) was to have students take the numbers out of the word problems first. Then I would proceed with my standard questions of “What’s happening in this story?” and “What kind of math would help solve this?” This has students stop to focus on the story rather than freaking out over the math part. Again, some students get anxious when they see word problems and shut down. Providing a word problem without numbers helps struggling readers while building number sense in everyone!
Since this may seem confusing, I want to break it down a bit:
“Oh gosh! We have a word problem where they forgot to put numbers in it! I’m not sure what to do. Here’s the problem: “Jada has several boxes of pencils. Each box holds the same amount. She wants to find out how many pencils she has in all.”
Then I would ask the guiding questions to help students recognize that we have equal groups, which means we are multiplying. That’s another reason to ensure students aren’t just memorizing steps in operations.
Next, I’d reveal the numbers using the “What if…” questions. “What if Jada had three boxes and 12 pencils? What if Jada had five boxes and three pencils?” This helps students focus on the structure first rather than just rushing to calculate. We all know students who don’t read the problem but [insert operation] the numbers.
Sometimes, as veteran teachers, we have seen the same ideas for helping students solve word problems. It can become a bit boring and a waste of time to come to posts like this. I remember always thinking, if I could just find something new! Well, here it is. I have unique, creative ideas to help your students solve word problems.
Reverse engineering the problem is similar to working backwards, but can be applied to any word problem. This method makes students think like problem constructors, helping them build flexibility, logic, and that all-important number sense. It works great to help students see that we can arrive to multiple solutions in math. As a bonus, students are reasoning!
In the examples so far, we would say something like: “The answer is 36 pencils. What could the problem be?”
Using multiple-choice or open-ended word problems, post 3 to 5 problems around the room to create stations. When students arrive at the teaching station, have them read the problem together, decide which operation to use, and then justify their thinking on a post-it. I always had my students fold the Post-its and attach them to the chart paper at each station. Students did not write their names on their sticky notes for privacy reasons. Then we would go over them together to promote math discourse.
Have students get into groups and provide each group with five similar word problems, but one is flawed somehow. For instance, it could have the incorrect answer, be illogical, or have errors. The goal is to get students to note what is happening in the problem and provide reasoning. For extra fun, you could easily have students complete the Imposter Challenge below, where everything is complete for you, including two different sets of word problems and reflection sheets.
Have students partner up and each one solves a word problem. Then they switch papers and rewrite the same problem their partner had, but with different numbers and add some sort of twist to the word problem. For instance, a student could create a different question or change a condition. Then they swap back and solve it. This helps students understand the structure of word problems and lets them manipulate them creatively.
In this strategy selection game-like activity, students are given a page of five to six word problems and a ‘backpack’ with only three tools. Tools could be strategies, manipulatives, visuals, models, etc. Then, after choosing which tools to “bring” to solve each problem, have them justify why each tool helped and why they left the unused tools “behind.”
This last one helps students understand how context changes the operation, even when numbers stay the same. This builds flexibility and schema mapping. So, how does it work? Give students a set of numbers, such as 3, 12, and 36, and have them write three different word problems using those numbers. The problems must have different operations, vary in structure (comparison, grouping, missing addend – check your standards), and lead to different answers.
Word problems scare students because they are not taught often enough, and our methods are ineffective. We need to treat problem solving and word problems just as we teach any other math subject. If we can find a way to make word problems seem like regular everyday math (because almost all our real-life math is problem solving!), we will be stepping in the right direction. If we could make it engaging, students won’t feel as scared. I hope something here will help you feel at ease with teaching it and your students becoming more successful.
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