How to Make Any Math Word Problem Solvable for Students

Solving math word problems is tricky for students whether they are in 3rd grade using multiplication, in middle school solving ratios, or in high school working through quadratic word problems. If you're looking to support students through solving word problems, this math bulletin board set is a guide to solving any math word problem students will see throughout school.

The bulletin board posters are written in simple language so that all students can access the information and outline five steps in the solving process. 

1: UNDERSTANDING 

This step asks students if they understand what is being asked of them to solve and if they understand all of the vocabulary in the word problem. 

2: PROCESSING 

This step asks students if they are able to restate the problem in their own words, if they can draw a picture, if they can make an easier example, and if it's possible to add their own name into the word problem. This always seems to make word problems easier! 

3: PLANNING 

In this step, students make a plan to solve their word problem. Strategies include writing an equation, using reasoning, making a list, finding a pattern, etc. 

4: SOLVING 

Students always want to jump to solving, so they'll begin to see that solving can only come after a plan has been put in place. This step asks students to go ahead with their plan, and if their plan fails to try a new plan. Most important is staying persistent. 

5: LOOKING AHEAD 

This final step asks students to think ahead to when they might see a similar problem and to consider what approach might be best then. 

You can find this math word problems bulletin board set here.

Math Word Problems Bulletin Board

> Browse word problem activities.

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Consumer Math Curriculum Warm-Ups 18 Units of Financial Literacy Bell Ringers

Do you start math class with a warm-up or a bell ringer? My classes started going more smoothly once I got my warm-up routine down. 

Our classroom routine: 

Students enter our classroom and grab a warm-up out of the basket at the front of the classroom. The warm-ups were either a 1/2-sheet or 1/4-sheet of paper and would get glued into their interactive notebooks or on binder paper. Students get time to work on their warm-up independently before we go over the answers together to make sure we were all on the same page.

Sometimes if students weren't focused, I'd switch gears and collect the warm-ups for points. This kept students on their toes. I'd only ever do this when the warm-up was a spiral review of material students had recently learned. This was usually the case with our warm-ups-- they'd be a short review of previous material before moving on to learn new math concepts.

I put together an 18-unit pack of consumer math warm-ups to get students thinking about real-world math as soon as they sit down for class. There are at least 6 warm-ups included for each curriculum unit listed below, along with answer keys:

18 units of consumer math warm-ups: 

• Wants vs. needs 
• Checks and registers 
• Wages and salary 
• Bank accounts 
• Budgets 
• Electronic banking and credit cards 
• Credit score 
• Discounts and coupons 
• Sales tax and tip 
• Percent change 
• Unit price 
• Income taxes 
• Car loans 
• Mortgages 
• Student loans 
• Investing 
• Car insurance 
• Health insurance

The warm-ups are all sized to be cut and pasted into an interactive math notebook. Students answer their warm-ups on their notebook paper, discuss with each other and report out on their answers to create a classroom discussion. These are the same warm-ups included in the Scaffolded Consumer Math Curriculum.

BROWSE MORE CONSUMER MATH

First Week of School in the Math Classroom

Do you have any math activities planned for the first day of school? In this post are a few back to school math activity ideas and classroom resources to help students ease into the new school year.

Editable Back to School Desk Plate

Students get to know each other through numbers with this back to school math desk plate activity. Students answer 10 questions about themselves that are all answered with numbers. The questions are ell editable, so you can change them to match what you'd like to know about students at the beginning of the school year.

Golden Spiral Back to School Math Pennant

Students color the different sections of their back to school math pennants based on their answers to questions like "favorite class?" and "birth month?" When all colored in, the final pennants make colorful math classroom décor that can be displayed for back to school night.

Back to School Picture Puzzles Escape Room

Braking free from this math picture puzzles escape room is a fun way for students to get to know each other while working together on the first day of school. To move to each next puzzle, students have to solve for the values of school-themes pictures and type the correct 4-letter code.

Back to School Picture Puzzles Escape Room

This math picture puzzles escape room also comes as a printable PDF version, if students don't yet have access to their devices or you'd rather they work on paper. 

"Mathy" Math Bulletin Board Borders

These math bulletin board borders add a little math to the edges of your classroom bulletin board. Wavy and straight edged borders are included in a few different styles.

"Mathy" Math Bulletin Board Borders - straight

Ms. Mundy sent a photo of her classroom where she hung the straight-edged borders around her math bulletin board. I love getting photos from teachers of my resources in action in your classrooms.

My Best Work! Student Work Toppers

Students love seeing their work displayed. These student work toppers make it easy to create a confidence-boosting bulletin board display that showcases student work for Back to School Night. There are a few different styles that fit both horizontally and vertically-orientated worksheets.

As students settle in for the school year, they can draw themselves as a math person in this I am a math person self portrait activity.

Why I CAN Do Math Bulletin Board

We are all math people, and this math bulletin board gives kids reasons to believe this about themselves.

Math Word Walls

My math word wall completely changed my teaching and how my students accessed our curriculum. Some teachers choose to hang their entire math word wall at the start of the school year, and others, because of space or personal preference, build their word wall throughout the year. 

Math Word Walls

There are math word walls available for financial literacy, area, volume, elementary grades 2 through 5, middle school grades 6 through 8, and high school algebra, geometry, algebra 2 and the unit circle.

More back to school & classroom decor posts:

Math Classroom Word Walls

Back to School in the Math Classroom

Back to School Math Bulletin Board Ideas

Math Classroom Decoration Ideas

Browse all back to school math

9 Math Classroom Setup Ideas and Must-Haves

What are your absolute must-haves in your math classroom? This past year, I worked at my former high school as an MCAS tutor to help kids graduate. The MCAS is the Massachusetts state test that students needed to pass in order to receive a high school diploma. The requirement was in place for around 20 years, and was finally eliminated in November 2024.

No one really believed we'd finally end this mandate, so when it was voted out we were all surprised. Since my students would now be receiving their diplomas (if they pass all of their required classes), I finished out the year as a support teacher.

Next year, I'll be back at the same school co-teaching algebra 2 as the special educator. I love teaching algebra 2, which I've written a lot about here. There's something really special about the amount of growth kids make in this course.

Graphing Algebraic Functions with Cut Paper

Algebraic function graphs and their transformations can be challenging at first. Why graphs shift in the coordinate plane the way they do can feel pretty abstract. Vertical transformations shift as expected, but horizontal shifts are "opposite"-- why? With practice, students start to "get it" and can even apply what they know about one function graph to an entirely new function. Our function transformations unit was always one of my favorite units to teach in algebra 2 because of this.

Over the past week or so, I've made 7 function transformation video shorts using cut paper. In each video you'll see familiar algebraic functions—like quadratic, absolute value, and radical functions—transformed visually in the coordinate plane. There's also one for sine.

We started our function graphs unit every year by transforming absolute value graphs. There's an absolute value cheat sheet for graphing linked in this post. First we find and plot the vertex, then choose x values on either side of the vertex's x, then calculate all y values by evaluating the equation at our x values.

End of the Year Math Activities

It's hard to believe it's almost the end of the school year! In this post, I want to share a few end of the year math activities to keep students engaged in these last days of school (and also having some fun). 

The first is a new end of the year math escape room that comes in both digital and print form. Students use their logic to solve for the values of summer-themed pictures in equations while celebrating making it to summer break.

End of the School Year Math Escape Room

Free Slope Word Cloud Classroom Poster

There are so many different ways to express slope. From constant of proportionality to rate of change to unit rate. I wanted to make a poster to help students make connections between all of the different ways they will see slope described as they move from middle school to high school.

The poster includes the math vocabulary:

• Slope
• Rise/run
• Rate of change
• Gradient
• Delta Y over delta X
• Constant of proportionality
• Speed
• Unit rate
• m=
• k=

There's a color version (shown above), and also a black and white version, if you'd rather your own color scheme. 

The poster is a free download here in my TPT: Slope Word Cloud Poster

If you'd like to enlarge it or any other PDF on your home or school printer, there are simple directions for enlarging any PDF here.

Fun Slope Activity Ideas