Solve 4th Grade Math Word Problems with Ease!

One of the greatest challenges our students face when solving word problems is knowing where to start! Our students can often become overwhelmed by the amount of information in the question and cannot differentiate the key information needed to solve the problem. This can lead to a kind of mental paralysis that impedes the student’s ability to engage with the question on any level.

This 19-slide teaching presentation has been designed by our experienced team of teachers to help your 4th grade students solve word problems with ease using the Problem Solving Guide. The Problem Solving Guide is a way to help students understand and solve word problems. The guide is only five steps and will help students organise their thoughts and ideas when tackling word problems. While the word problems in the presentation relate specifically to angles, the suggested steps can be used to tackle word problems relating to any area of the maths curriculum.

The five steps of the Problem Solving Guide are:

1. Analyze the Data – Gather the needed information.
2. Understand the Question – Identify what the question is asking.
3. Plan a Strategy – Think about how to solve the problem.
4. Solve the Problem – Answer the problem from the information gathered in the first three steps.
5. Check Your Work – Make sure working is correct and has answered what the question is asking. 

The presentation also includes an example question that demonstrates how to apply each step in the guide to solve the problem.

Two revision questions are also included at the end of the presentation to allow teachers to monitor how well students have grasped the concept.

This set of teaching slides downloads as a Google Slides file. Be sure to operate the presentation in Slideshow mode, as the presentation does contain some simple animations.

This ready-made lesson on solving math word problems will drastically reduce your planning time! Slide decks also provide great visual support for your lesson, making it easier for students to understand and retain information.

Going Further With Math Word Problems

Once you’ve introduced your students to the problem-solving guide contained in this teaching presentation, you’ll no doubt be looking for opportunities for your students to put their newfound knowledge into practice!

Once you have worked through the teaching slides with your students, have them practice implementing the five steps of the Problem Solving Guide with a variety of angles word problems. Our Angles Word Problems Worksheets have been designed specifically for this purpose! Students can use the worksheet to apply what they have learned in the presentation by using the steps in the guide to solve the word problems. That’s another angles lesson taken care of by the Teach Starter team!

How to Access This Angles Slide Deck

Use the Download button above to access the Google Slides version of this resource. (Note: You will be prompted to make a copy of the Google Slides template before accessing it).

Project the resource onto your screen and work through the slides as a class for a paperless lesson!

This resource was created by Michael Bailey, a teacher in New York and a Teach Starter collaborator.

More 4th Grade Angles Activities

Looking for more activities to enhance your students’ understanding of angles? Explore this great selection of teacher-created resources!

teaching resource

Missing Angle Task Cards

Practice how to find the measure of a missing angle with this set of 18 task cards.

teaching resource

Measuring Angles in Images – 4th Grade Math Worksheets

Get your students using their protractors to measure acute, obtuse, right, straight and reflex angles with this set of differentiated angles worksheets.

teaching resource

Building With Angles – 4th Grade Interactive Math Game

Transport your students to a local construction site to solve building-related angle problems with this interactive math game.