3rd Grade Addition and Subtraction Problems: 3 Stories

Should your child add or subtract? This 3rd grade addition and subtraction problems sheet asks that question three times. First, Jane has 45 DVDs and brings home 72 more, so the two amounts are put together. In the second story, one school library has 467 books and another has 901, and your child finds how many more books the bigger one has. Last, Sandy spends 338 of her 670 pennies. Each of these word problems leaves space to write the facts, the number sentence and a full answer sentence at the end. The answers are 117 DVDs, 434 books and 332 pennies, and the second page is an answer key with every step written out.

Add or subtract? Read the question

Before your child calculates, ask what the story is about and whether the amounts are being joined, taken away or compared. When two groups are joined, as with the DVDs, we add: 45 + 72 = 117.

The words "how many more" ask for a difference. That is why the library story is a subtraction: 901 - 467 = 434. Your child can check it the other way, since 467 + 434 = 901.

Spot the extra information

The piggy bank story gives a number your child does not need. Sandy has 212 dimes, but she only spends pennies, so the dimes stay out of the calculation. As a result, the subtraction is 670 - 338 = 332.

Real problems often carry extra information like this. Ask your child to underline only the numbers that answer the question, then cross out the others.

After the page: stories at home

To begin, compare each answer with the answer key on page two. Then make up a short story together with things at home, such as 120 crayons and 45 more. Finally, let your child choose the operation and explain the choice out loud, because saying why matters as much as the result.