Video Transcript
This garden had five flowers. Then, Jennifer picked two
flowers. How many flowers are left in the
garden?
To solve this problem, it would be
helpful if we had a number sentence or equation. Then we’d know what to do with the
numbers. Should we add them? Or should we take them away? The first thing we need to do is to
read the problem carefully and to think to ourselves, is this an addition or a
subtraction problem?
The first thing we’re told is that
the garden had five flowers. We could use five counters to
represent our five flowers. Then we’re told that Jennifer
picked two flowers. Now, does this mean that Jennifer
added another two flowers to the five flowers that were already there? If so, we need to work out the
answer to five add two. Or does it mean that Jennifer took
away two flowers from the five that were already there? In which case we need to work out
five subtract two.
Well, of course, if somebody picks
some flowers, the group of flowers is going to get less. We know this because the question
asks us how many flowers are left in the garden. When something’s left behind, it’s
after we’ve taken something away. So to find the answer, we need to
work out five take away two. And if we look at our counters, we
can see that we have three left. Five take away two equals
three. We can use the picture to
check. There are three flowers left
behind.
Because this problem was all about
somebody picking flowers out of a garden, we decided it was going to be a
subtraction sentence that we needed to write. The number of flowers that are left
in the garden is the same as five take away two, which equals three.
