The Problem Solver Activities for learning Problem – Solving Strategies

1. The Problem SolverActivities for learning Problem – Solving Strategies Teacher Resource Book Second Edition Grade 2

2. 1 Use Logical Reasoning Kris likes cap! He wears caps to school. He wears caps to the park. He wears caps everywhere he goes. Today he found one more cap to wear. It covers his ears. It has two buttons on it. One of the buttons shows a picture of animal. Which cap did Kris find today?

3. 2 Use Logical Reasoning A piece is missing from Mrs. Tudy’s shape set. She asks her students to look around the room to help her find it. She gives them a few clues to help them in their search. • It has more than three corners. • Its sides are not all the same length. • It has only square corners. Which shape is Mrs. Tuddy ’s missing shape?

4. 3 Use Logical Reasoning Angie showed Fred a picture of Ginger, Jean, Melody, Emma, and Doris. Fred looked at the picture of the five girls and asked Angie which girl was her sister. Angie said, “She has freckles. She has long hair. She has teeth missing.” Which girl is Angie’s sister?

5. 4 Make an organized List When does Oscar goes to town, he puts on a necktie and a pair of socks. Oscar has a blue necktie and a red necktie. He has a pair of orange socks, a pair of green socks, and a pair of yellow socks. What are the 6 different sets of neckties and socks that Oscar can put on when he goes to town?

6. 5 Make an Organized List Cindy is going to buy a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. The store has T-shirt with a flower, T-shirt with a heart, and T-shirt with a star for sale. The store has shorts with blue dots and shorts with green dots. What are the 6 different outfits that Cindy can buy?

7. 6 Make an Organized List When Henry Holly eats breakfast, he chooses one type of juice. There are 3 boxes of clean cereal on the table. There are oats flakes, bran flakes, and corn flakes. This morning there’s orange juice and apple juice on the table. What are the 6 different breakfast that Henry could have this morning?

8. 7 Use or Make a Table The elves of Wimple Woods had a big picnic. Melva counted them. She has four clues for you. • There were fewer more than 26. • There were fewer than 24. • There was an even number of elves. • The number had an 8 in the ones place. How many elves came to the big picnic?

9. 8 Use or Make a Table Gretchen is building a block tower. She wants to make it as high as her favorite number. • It needs to be taller than 20 inches. • It needs to be shorter than 40 inches.’ • The number’s two digits are the same

10. 9 Use or Make a Table Mattie the muskrat is finding is finding plants to eat in the winter. • She has between 53 and 62 plants. • She does not have an odd number plants. • The number’s one digit is less than its tens digit. • We say the number when we’re counting by tens. • How many plants has Mattie found?

11. 10 Use Logical Reasoning Mr. Dan’s class is talking about their pets. Mr. Dan asks any child who has a dog or cat to stand. There are 12 children all together who have dogs. There are 10 children all together who have cats. Two of the children have both a dog AND a cat. How many children are standing?

12. 11 Use Logical Reasoning Meg’s mother was serving cake and ice cream at Meg’s birthday party. She asked each child what they wanted as they were served. There were 11 children all together who asked for ice cream. Nine children asked for both cake AND ice cream. How many children were at Meg’s party?

13. 12 Use Logical Reasoning • The dogs at Dino’s Dog Park love to play. Some like to play catch with a ball, and some like to run through the sprinkler. Yesterday at the park, 18 dogs played catch and 15 dogs ran thought the sprinkler. Three of the dogs did both. They played catch AND ran through the sprinkler. How many dogs were at the park yesterday?

14. 13 Use or Make a Picture or Diagram Manny Mouse is going out to get some cheese. He has to crawl through a long tunnel to get from his home to the cheese. Manny has to go around 15 corners on his way. He starts out and goes around and goes back around 5 corners. There are his crackers. Manny turns around and goes back around 5 corners. There are his crackers! He turns around again and goes around 7 corners. Where is Manny now?

15. 14 Use or Make a Picture or Diagram Paula has to go down 19 steps to get from her house to Puff Park. Paula is going to the park to jump rope with her friends. She goes down 12 steps and stops! She forgot to take her jump rope. She goes back up 9 steps. Her brother Steve throws her jump rope to her. Paula turns around again and goes down 14 steps. Where is Paula now?

16. 15 Use or Make a Picture or Diagram • Hurry, hurry! Robert Rabbit is late for his train. Robert has to hop past 18 rocks to get from his field to the to the train station. Robert hops past 9 rocks. Oh, no! He cant find his ticket. He turns around and hops back past 7 rocks. He sees his ticket on the ground. Robert grabs the ticket and turns around again. He hops very fast past 16 rocks. Where is Robert now?

17. 16 Make an Organized List The keeper of Wibble-Wobble Bridge always sends 2 cars and 14 people across the bridge at the same time. Six cars are waiting to cross the bridge. There are 8 people in the blue car, 7 people in the green car, and 9 n the orange car. There are 6 in the red car, 7 in the pink car, and 5 in the brown car. Which car can go over the bridge at the same time?

18. 17 Make an Organized List The Wigglies are going to dance for their friends. They are getting their 18 dance shoes out of the trunk. Two Wigglies dance at the same time they use all 18 shoes. The Wigglies wear a shoe on each foot when they dance. Laura has 10 feet, Larry has 14 feet, and Lola has 6. Lena has 4 feet, Leroy has 8 feet, and Lance has 12 feet. Which Wigglies can dance at the same time?

19. 18 Make an Organized List Great Giant has 6 pails of heavy rocks to carry up the mountain. He has one pail with 9 rocks in it. He has other pails with 10 rocks, 6 rocks, 7 rocks, 8 rocks, and 5 rocks in them. He carries 15 rocks at one time up the mountain. He holds one pail with his left hand and one pail with his right hand. Great Giant is going to make 3 trips up the mountain. Which 2 pails could he carry on each trip?

20. 19 Guess and Check Soo won saw lots of fun things in the Tiny Toy Shop. She saw a bell, a telephone, a turtle, a tiger, a frog, a lion, a horse, a raccoon, an owl, and a rabbit. Soo bought one toy for a friend, one toy for her sister, and one toy for her self. She paid 20 cents for the toys. Which three toys could Soo have bought ?

21. 20 Guess and Check “Bang!”The marble shot out and rolled around on the “Jungle” board. Joan was playing an electronic pinball game. She won points ever time a marble rolled into a hole. She won a different number of points for each hole. Joan shot 4 marbles and won 25 points. Which holes could the marbles have rolled into?

22. 21 Guess and Check Rachel Rabbit saw some tasty goodies in the store. She put her nose to a cucumber. “Mmm, “ she said. Then she looked at a cabbage, a tomato, lettuce, a green pepper, a carrot, a potato, and a turnip. Rachel bought 3 different vegetables , and she paid 27 cents in all. Which vegetables could Rachel have bought?

23. 22 Use or Look for a Pattern Brian has two rubber stamps with pictures on them. Brian dips each stamp in ink. Then he stamps it on paper. One stampmakes a picture of a robot. The other one makes a picture of a clown. Brian is putting those pictures on paper in a pattern. Which stamp will Brian use next?

24. 23 Use or Look for a Pattern Gloria and her big sister are making a wooden box. They are using short nails and long nails. They are pounding the nails into the box in a pattern. Look at the nails they have used already. Find the pattern. What size are the next three nails they will use?

25. 24 Use or Look for a Pattern The people in Tiny City build houses in three shapes. Some are square, some are triangles, and some are circles. The people build houses in a different pattern on each street. Look for the pattern in the houses on Jump Street. Look for the pattern in the houses on Jump Street. What shape will the next house be on each street?

26. 25 Act or Use Objects The Jumbo Circus is in town! Five circus wagons are going to carry animals to the circus tent. There will be one animal in each wagon. The leopard will be ahead of the lion. The monkey will be ahead of the leopard. The elephant will be behind the lion. The horse will be in the first wagon. In which wagon will each animal be carried?

27. 26 Act Out or Use Objects Jumbo Circus has five very funny clowns. Right now they are climbing a ladder. Millie is below Shorty. Beebo is above Shorty. Toto is below Millie. Cloe is way at the top What is the name of each clown shown on the ladder?

28. 27 Act Out or Use Objects Six cars are in line to get on a boat. The yellow car is behind the green car. The orange car is in front of the green car. The blue car is first in line. The black car is in front of the orange car. The red car is in front of the black car. What color is each car shown in the line?

29. 28 Use or Make a Table Eddie and Gina work in a market. They pack groceries in bags. Gina works faster than Eddie does. In the time it takes Eddie to pack 1 bag, Gina packs 5 bags. They keep packing in the same way all day. If Eddie packs 5 bags, how many bags does Gina pack?

30. 29 Use or Make a Table Fran and Fred Frog love to skip rope! They jump and jump all day. Fran is older than Fred, so she jumps just a bit more slowly. For every 2 jumps of Fran’s, Fred has jumped 3 times. Fran is getting tired. She just jumped her 12th jump. How many times has Fred jumped?

31. 30 Use or Make a Table Samantha Snail and Bobby Bee carry the mail to homes in Flower City everyday. Bobby Bee is much faster than Samantha Snail when it comes to delivering mail. In the time it took Samantha to carry mail to 3 homes, Bobby carried mail to 5 homes. They worked that way all day. Samantha carried mail to 15 home. How many homes did Bobby carry mail to ?

32. 31 Use or Look for Pattern On the first day, Mama Bear and her cub picked only 2 baskets of berries before the sun went down. On the second day, Mama Bear and her cub started out early. They picked 4 baskets of berries. On the third day, they picked 6 baskets of berries than they picked the day before. Mama Bear and her cub kept getting faster in the same way. How many baskets of berries did they pick on the eight day?

33. 32 Use or look for a Pattern At 41 o’ clock on Saturday, there were 21 children playing ball together in Silver Park. Joy, Johnny, and Jim left at 2 o’ clock to go shopping. Margie, Morris, and Mimi went home at 3 o’ clock to take care of their dog. At 4 o’ clock, three more children left the park. Three children left the park every hour that afternoon. At 6 o’ clock, the rest of the children went home for dinner. How many children went home at 6 o’ clock?

34. 33 Use or look for a Pattern Paula practices piano every day. The better she gets, the more she likes to practice. On the first day she practiced 5 minutes. The next day she practiced 10 minutes. She was getting better! The third day she practiced for 15 minutes. Paula was making a number pattern. Each day, she practiced 5 minutes more than on the day before. How many minutes did Paula practice on the sixth day?

35. 34 Act Out or Use Objects Cora Crocodile is proud of her teeth. She has lots of teeth and she brushes them every day. Cora uses 5 tubes of toothpaste in 3 days. She has 20 tubes of toothpaste in her cupboard now. How many days can Cora brush her teeth with the toothpaste she has?

36. 35 Act Out or Use Objects Steve collects toy spiders, and Janie collects toy snakes. Steve has a lot of toy spiders and wants to trade Janie for some of her toy snakes. Janie says she will trade 2 of her snakes for 7 of Steve’s spiders. Steve traded 35 toy spiders. How many toy snakes did he get from Janie?

37. 36 Act Out or Use Objects • Kimi is at the summer fair. She wants to ride on the Space World cars. There’s a special price today. For 3 tickets she can ride for 8 minutes. Kimi counts her tickets. Good! She has 15 tickets left. How many minutes in all can Kimi ride on the Space World cars?

38. 37 Use or Make a Table A train carried people around Flagtown Zoo. The train had 8 cars in all. One car was extra long . It carried 6 people. The other cars each carried 4 people . The other cars each carried 4 people . How many people did the train carry?

39. 38 Use or Make a Table The kids in Mr. Ray’s class were writing a serial story to raise money for their class. They wrote a chapter at a time and sold it to other children in their school. The first chapter cost 5 cents. Each chapter after that cost 10 cents. In the end, the story was 7 chapters long. How much did students who bought every chapter pay?

40. 39 Use or Make a Table Kevin and Tam used needles and thread to make pictures on cloth. They made many small stitches on the cloth. All together the stitches made pictures of animals. It took Kevin and Tam a little while to learn how to do it. In the first hours, they finished 2 pictures. After that, they finished 5 pictures every hour. They stitched for 8 hours this week. How many pictures did they finished?

41. 40 Use or Look for Pattern The children in Ms. Fisher’s second grade class made puppets for people in a hospital. The children made 6 puppets on Monday? They made 11 puppets on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they made 16 puppets. They got better and better at making puppets. If the children continued this pattern, how many puppets did they make on Friday?

42. 41 Use or Look for Pattern Hui and Sal sold jars of Yummy Peanuts to make money for a new playground. The first lady bought 1 jar of peanuts. Then a man bought 2 jars of peanuts. Next a boy bought 4 jars, and a lady bought 7 jars. Hui and Sal could see a number pattern in the way they were selling peanuts. They kept selling nuts in the same way. How many jars of peanuts did they sell to the fifth person?

43. 42 Use or Look for Pattern “That’s funny!” said Kim. “Something’s happening to my stickers.” Kim had 20 stickers on Monday. By Tuesday there were only 17 stickers. On Wednesday Kim counted only 14 stickers. Kim could see a number pattern in the way her stickers kept disappearing. How many stickers will Kim have left on Friday?

44. 43 Work Backwards Hurray! Petunia Park Fun Day has arrived! Patrick, Terence, and Jay are doing the treasure hunt. Gold pieces are hidden under bushes, in the sandbox, at the top of the slide- everywhere! Jay found 6 more gold pieces than Terrence. Terrance found 10 more gold pieces than Patrick. Patrick found 2 gold pieces. How many gold pieces did Jay find?

45. 44 Work Backwards Kelly raises hamsters, guinea pigs, and lop-eared rabbits. She gives them away when they are old enough to leave their mothers. This year she gave away 4 fewer guinea pigs than hamsters. She gave away 5 fewer hamsters than rabbits. Kelly kept some of the rabbits for herself, but she gave 12 of them away. How many guinea pigs did Kelly give away?

46. 45 Work Backwards Three mice live in a schoolroom. When the children leave the room at night, the mice come out of their home to look for food. Tiny, a sleepyhead, found 8 fewer crumbs than her brother Ringer did. Ringer found 12 fewer crumbs than Pinky did. Pinky found 23 crumbs from sandwiches and cookies. How many crumbs did Tiny find?

47. 46 Use or Make a Picture or Diagram The Wey family is going to see a movie at he Best Movie Theater. There are three doors they can take into the theater. All three doors open into a big lobby where popcorn is sold. There are two halls they can take from the lobby to the room where movies are shown. What are all the different paths the Weys can take from outside the theater to the movie room?

48. 47 Use or Make a Picture or Diagram • Stone Castle is where Princess Asha lives. There are four gates she can go through to get into her garden. There are two winding stairways she can take from the garden up to the tower. That’s where Asha likes to go. There’s secret room up there. What are all the different paths Asha can take from outside the gates to the secret room?

49. 48 Use or Make a Picture or Diagram Myra Mole built a wonderful home under the ground. She made an eating room like a ring around her sleeping room. Myra dug three tunnels from her sleeping room to her eating room. She also dug three tunnels from her eating room out to the big world. What are all the paths Myra can take from her sleeping room out to the big world?

50. 49 Make it Simpler “Let’s all have our pictures taken together,” said Lindy. She was with her friends Megan, Nora, Carmen, and Elsa. Lindy’s brother took pictures of them with his camera. He could only get two girls in each picture. Each of the five girls had her picture taken with every other girl. How many pictures did Lindy’s brother take in all?