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3rd grade · Math · Unit 4 of 18

Two-Step Stories

Solve problems in two steps

What your child practices

Word problems that take two steps with any of the four operations, choosing an equation with a letter for the unknown, and checking an answer by estimating.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 3.4(K); 3.5(A); 3.5(B) · representing and solving one- and two-step problems, and checking with estimates

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Read the story and find the two steps.
  2. Do the first step, then use its answer in the second.
  3. Check: is the answer close to an estimate?

Example: Maya buys 4 packs of 6 stickers and gives away 5. How many are left? Step 1: 4 × 6 = 24. Step 2: 24 − 5 = 19. Answer: 19

Two-Step Stories in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 4 of 18 in 3rd grade Math, after Add & Subtract and before Multiplication.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Amir adds 465 + 164 and gets 829. Round to the nearest hundred to check. Is that answer reasonable?

    • No, it is far from the estimate
    • Yes, it is close to the estimate

  2. Question 2

    Ana buys 6 packs of 5 stickers and gives away 24. How many stickers are left?

    • 5
    • 7
    • 4
    • 16
    • 6

  3. Question 3

    Mia picks 1 apples in the morning and 27 in the afternoon. Mia puts them in bags of 7. How many bags are filled?

    • 3
    • 5
    • 6
    • 28
    • 4

  4. Question 4

    Sam has 3 bags with 4 grapes in each and eats 5. Which equation finds the grapes left, g?

    • 3 × (4 + 5) = g
    • 3 + 4 − 5 = g
    • 3 × 4 + 5 = g
    • 3 × 4 − 5 = g

  5. Question 5

    Ana picks 22 apples in the morning and 13 in the afternoon. Ana puts them in bags of 7. How many bags are filled?

    • 35
    • 3
    • 4
    • 6
    • 5

  6. Question 6

    Priya has 2 cards and gets 14 more. Priya shares all the cards equally among 2 friends. How many cards does each friend get?

    • 7
    • 6
    • 18
    • 9
    • 8

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