Do you think this Maths question is too easy/just right/hard?

[albachiara]

... for a child who is almost 7?

The question is "Sly Sharpie was in charge of making the swords for all the pirates aboard the ship. He made a sword that was 85 cm long: it was 15 cm too short!!! How long should the sword have been?"

My DS found this question quite hard, but it looks easy to me. What do you think?

Another question: "The result of a rugby match was 9 points to 4. What was the difference between the 2 scores?" My DS answered: "One is an odd number and one is an even number". I told him that his answer was clever, but then I explained that in Maths the difference between two numbers means the results you get from the subtraction. However, I don't think his answer was actually wrong... but I'm his mum...

I think it is about right, depending on set. My six year old could probably do it, will ask him in the morning.

It might be the presentation of the question that is bothering him? We were told to work on 'word logic' puzzles at parents evening. I would think that if you asked 85 + 15 or 9 - 4 he would get it right.

Maybe go through a few questions and rather than focussing on the answer, focus on what they are trying to find out, what information do you have, then work on getting the information into a recognisable form. THEN you can get the answer.

Child Y1 or Y2?
I think is just about right, Was it a homework?
I would be inclined to help him and simplify a little, trying to explain it as:
85

• 15 ---- and 9 _ 4 ----

Really nothing more then simple addition and subtraction,

Yes, both of you are right! If the questions were what is 85+15 , and what is 9-4, then he would have been able to do them. But I'm trying to concentrate on word problems, because I think it's where children struggle.

If you ask your child to answer these questions, can you tell me how easy they found them?

strictlovingmum My DS is in P3 (Scotland) (equivalent to Y2) and this was not homework, but some extra practice that I ask him to do at home, if he's not too tired after school...

Word problems really are about pulling out the clues and looking for information - a lot like cryptic crosswords, once you know how to do them, know the tricks, you can see where the answer.

Try the method I said above, talk through them, ask leading questions and see how he goes doing that. Eventually, he will ask himself the questions without thinking about it and will be able to immediately see the 'question' being asked amongst the excess words and get to the answer quickly.

As an aside, I would love a website link to where you get these types of questions from. Would be useful to help with my dc. Thanks :)

Lots of children find word problems difficult (much older children too) and I would guess the maths isn't the problem because faced with 85 + 15 = or 9-4= he would be quite happy

www.primaryresources.co.uk/maths/pdfs/9problems2.pdf

www.primaryresources.co.uk/maths/pdfs/9wordprobs.pdf

AdditionMultiplication
some websites for word problems (you have to look around the sites to find the level you want):

www.primaryresources.co.uk/maths/mathsD1.htm
(already given by mrx in a slightly different form)

math.about.com/od/wordproblem1/Worksheets_for_Word_Problems_Various_grades.htm

www.superteacherworksheets.com/word-problems.html

I always get DD to work out what the sum is first, because this kind of problem is learning what the words are asking you to do. I find that once she has got the correct sum the answer comes easily. This morning we played a game of I am going to a meeting it starts at X and last for Y hours when does it finish as a example of developing this kind of problem, she likes to choose what kind of meeting each sum is makes no difference to the maths.

I just asked dd1 (6 - will be 7 in March). Initially she took 15 off 85 and gave me the answer of 70. Once I re-read the question to her and emphasised the "too short" bit, she realised she needed to go the other way round so then told me 100.
The second question she answered straight away.
(She is in the top group for maths, if that makes any difference...)

A lot of children find word problems difficult because they do not think about the wording enough. I teach the RUCSAC method
Read - Read the question through completely
Underline - Underline the important numbers and words
Calculations - Write down the calculation it is asking you to do
Solve - Solve the calculation
Answer in a sentence
Check

If your child is not understanding the mathematical meaning of the word 'difference' that needs to dealt with as a lot of questions feature this. I used to have a link to some great maths vocab posters, I'll see if I can find it, it's probably primary resources somewhere

Ah, it wasn't Primary resources, it was a site I wont use any more. But I've found this one which might be helpful

www.instantdisplay.co.uk/mathematicallanguage.htm

Also I found this and thought people might be interested. Its a list of all of the vocab which should be introduced in each year

www.barnbydun.doncaster.sch.uk/Pages/Maths%20Vocabulary.pdf

www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupHomepage.asp?GroupID=1095504
www.amathsdictionaryforkids.com/dictionary.html

I think it is about right for that age..it is the wording that may cause the problems more so than the addition or subtraction.

It is a good idea to practice as many of these problems as possible...and soon they become easier for the child. I downloaded pages of these last year for my Dd in Y2 (can't remember where I got them ....TES Key stage 1 Maths perhaps) I used them to help at end of Y 2. She got familiar with the concepts/wording very quickly but she did need the initial practice.

Thanks for all the links and advice! Some/all links are great!

I thought that the way he answered the "difference" question was quite cute and involved some lateral thinking (or simply, he doesn't connect "difference" to subtraction).

If you ask "What is the difference between a horse and a chicken", your answer will be about things that make the horse different from the chicken.

So what is the difference between 9 an 4? Well, they are different because one is odd and one is even (I remember my daughter answering a similar question: "One is made of straight lines, the other curved lines", at more or less the same age.)

I find these answers so cute! Of course I'll now concentrate on teaching him the mathematical meaning of "difference", so the cuteness will be gone.

We'll crack on with word problems!

I just asked DS (7 in June) who finds maths challenging (read = absolutely rubbish at maths) - he knew to add the 85 to the 15, but that was as far as he got.

I think it is a pretty average question for this age group, but unfortunately maths has not 'clicked' yet for DS

"...He made a sword that was 85 cm long: it was 15 cm too short!!! How long should the sword have been?"
As one respondent has said, young children often find word problems like this difficult. One way of presenting problems like this is to make them visual. So, if you draw a length to represent 85cm and you then ask whether a sword which is 15cm too short would be shorter than 85cm or longer, you should get the answer 'longer'. Now, draw on the additional 15cm. If your drawing is to scale (1cm:10cm), finding the solution should be fairly easy.
Similarly, you can do the same with the rugby scores by juxtaposing nine blocks and four blocks. Of course, you will need to explicate the vocabulary as you go along.

I just asked my dd the questions (she is 6.4 and in y2) She didn't really have a clue about the first one, but after talking her through it she could actually add 85 and 15.
The second question she answered in the same way as your DS- she said "one is odd and one is even", the she thought about it again and said that 9 is more than four, but she couldn't understand "the difference' in terms of subtraction. I think it's really hard and where a lot of young children come unstuck in their SATs.