For each of the problems 1-12, identify whether they are Compare, Compared Quantity Unknown (CQU), Compare Referent Unknown) or one of the other problem types you have previously learned about.
1. Peter has 20 shiny stickers. He has 10 fewer plain stickers than shiny stickers. How many plain stickers does he have?
2. Shauna has 11 joke books. She has 4 more joke books than Blake. How many joke books does Blake have?
3. Anne has 3 thick markers and 8 thin markers. How many markers does she have in all?
4. Rita has 1 red flowers. She has 5 fewer red flower than blue flowers. How many blue flowers does she have?
5. John has 8 balloons. He has 6 more balloons than Diana. How many balloons does Diana have?
6. Blake has 3 glow in the dark bugs. Ralph has 10 more glow in the dark bugs than Blake. How many glow in the dark bugs does Ralph have?
7. David had 8 dinosaurs. For his birthday, he got 1 more dinosaur. How many dinosaurs does he have now?
8. Ralph has 14 big erasers. He has 4 more big erasers than small erasers. How many small erasers does he have?
9. Nora has 14 white T-shirts. She has 9 fewer blue T-shirts than white T-shirts. How many blue T-shirts does she have?
10. Laura has 10 stuffed toy animals and 8 hard plastic toy animals. How many more stuffed toy animals than hard plastic toy animals does Laura have?
11. Anne has 7 Bratz. Gina has 8 more Bratz than Anne. How many Bratz does Gina have?
12. Gwen made 3 clay animals. How many more does she have to make to have 8 clay animals?
Other questions:
13. How do you identify the referent in a comparison sentence?
14. What makes CQU problems so much easier than CRU problems?
15. Is it a good idea to tell children to add when they see the word "more" and subtract when they see the word "fewer" or "less"? Why or why not?
16. Explain how to solve the following problem by direct modeling in a way that shows both sets:
Marcia has 8 pencils. Adam has 3 more pencils than Marcia. How many pencils does Adam have?
17. Explain how to solve the following problem by direct modeling in a way that shows both sets:
Kim has 7 small toy horses. She has 3 more small toy horses than large toy horses. How many large toy horses does she have?