Multi Step Word Problem Graphic Organizer

How it works

This multi step word problem graphic organizer gives each calculation a box of its own, so nobody stops after the first.

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Find the hidden question

A two-step problem asks one question and leaves another unasked: a number you need that the problem does not give. Have students write that hidden question first. Its answer is step 1, and step 2 uses it to answer what the problem asks.

Graphic organizers for math word problems, by need

Start with the two step frame. Move to the three step frame when a problem takes one more calculation, and to the equation frame once the class writes a letter for the unknown.

Write a label after every number in the work, such as 24 crayons, so step 2 starts from the right quantity.
When a division leaves a remainder, decide what the remainder means before writing the answer sentence.

Questions and answers

How do you solve a multi step word problem?

Write what you know and what you need to find. Decide what has to be worked out first, do that calculation, then use its result in the next one. Finish with a sentence that answers the question.

What grade are two step word problems?

In the Common Core standards they begin in 2nd grade, with addition and subtraction within 100. In 3rd grade the two steps can use any of the four operations, and 4th grade has multistep problems with whole numbers.

How do you check the answer to a word problem?

Read the question again and ask whether the answer fits it. Then test the arithmetic: work backward with the opposite operations, or round the numbers and estimate. An answer far from the estimate needs a second look.

All 8 organizers

A box for each step 4

Math word problem graphic organizer: the hidden question Four numbered boxes joined by arrows. The second is for the question the problem does not ask aloud, the one that has to be answered first.
Multi step word problem graphic organizer: two steps and a check Lines for the problem, a box for what I know and one for what I need to find, an open box for each of two steps, and a last box for the answer in a sentence with a check.
Short frame, two to a page Each half sheet has two lines for the problem and three boxes joined by arrows: step 1, step 2, answer. For a warm-up or an exit problem.
Three step frame For a problem that takes three calculations: what I know, what I need to find, three open step boxes and a box for the answer.

Plan and check 3

Draw it first: picture, two steps, answer A space to draw the problem as a picture or a bar model, over the two step boxes and the answer.
Equation frame: a letter for the unknown For 3rd grade and up: name the unknown with a letter, write an equation, solve it, then estimate to see whether the answer is reasonable.
Which operation? A row for each step Three rows. For each step write what you are finding, tick add, subtract, multiply or divide, then do the work beside it.

Filled-in sample 1

Sample, filled in: boxes of crayons The boxes of the opening sheet done for a made-up problem, which is written in a box of its own at the top: multiply first, then subtract.