1. Joe has 9 gifts under the Christmas tree from his Mom and Dad. Dad gave him 3. How many gifts did Mom give him?
2. Sue ate 6 candy canes and Jane ate 2 candy canes. How many more candy canes did Sue eat than Jane?
3. Kyle got 3 new trucks for Christmas. If he has 5, how many trucks does he have now?
4. You have to share your 8 chocolates with your sister. How many will each of you get?
5. Candy canes are 5 cents. How many candy canes can you buy with 10 cents?
In all grades, it is very important to ask open ended questions which vary somewhat from the typical word problems. Open ended questions stimulate problem solving abilities and move students away from the one way to do everything. Samples of open ended questions are: I have 11 Christmas Gifts, what different combinations could I use to distribute them to 3 people? How do you know you have all of the combinations? How many different shapes can you make drawing 4 straight lines? How many questions can you determine if the answer needs to be 9?
