Graphic organizer Grade 2 Math
Nettleford Bend Creek Cleanup: A Grade 2 Two-Step Problem Organizer
A four-column frame walks grade 2 students from what they know through two number sentences to the answer, using three creek cleanup word problems.
Objectives
- Students will list the known numbers in a two-step word problem with labels.
- Students will write a separate number sentence for each of the two steps.
- Students will name which step gives the answer to the question asked.
Vocabulary
Key words: step, number sentence, label, in all, left
Teacher overview
This organizer is a four-column frame that separates a two-step word problem into what the student knows, a first number sentence, a second number sentence, and the answer with its label. The three problems come from a volunteer creek cleanup in the town of Nettleford Bend, where the counts of bags, cans, and litter give every step a unit worth writing down. The misconception the frame is designed to interrupt is stopping at the first computed number, so a student who correctly finds 23 bags in step one writes 23 as the answer even though the question asked how many bags were left. A separate answer column, filled in only after step two, makes that stopping point visible to both the student and the teacher.
Organizer
Fill in one row for each problem. Write labels with every number.
| Problem | What I know | Step 1: number sentence and what it finds | Step 2: number sentence and what it finds | Answer with label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||
| 2 | ||||
| 3 |
Here are the three problems.
- A class filled 14 bags on Saturday and 9 bags on Sunday. The class dropped off 18 bags at the truck. How many bags are left to drop off?
- Volunteers picked up 36 cans and 27 bottles. They put 40 of them in the recycling bin. How many are still in the pile?
- A group counted 45 pieces of litter near the bridge. The group picked up 19 pieces before lunch and 16 pieces after lunch. How many pieces are still there?
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Completed Exemplar
| Problem | What I know | Step 1: number sentence and what it finds | Step 2: number sentence and what it finds | Answer with label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 bags Saturday, 9 bags Sunday, 18 bags dropped off | 14 + 9 = 23 bags filled in all | 23 - 18 = 5 bags still to drop off | 5 bags |
| 2 | 36 cans, 27 bottles, 40 put in the bin | 36 + 27 = 63 items picked up in all | 63 - 40 = 23 items still in the pile | 23 items |
| 3 | 45 pieces near the bridge, 19 picked up before lunch, 16 picked up after lunch | 19 + 16 = 35 pieces picked up in all | 45 - 35 = 10 pieces still there | 10 pieces |
Three points are worth checking as you read student work. In row 1 the answer column must hold 5 and not 23, since 23 is only the total filled. In row 3 the order of the two steps reverses, because the two numbers that combine are the pieces picked up rather than the starting count, and students who add all three numbers will produce 80 instead of 10. Any student whose step 2 sentence repeats the step 1 result without changing it has copied rather than reasoned.
Differentiation
Support
Give these students a version of the frame with the step 1 sentence already started, showing the two numbers and the operation sign but not the total. Read each problem aloud twice and have the student underline the question sentence before writing anything, since the question is what decides which column holds the answer. Counters grouped into tens make the second step easier to model for problem 2.
Extension
Ask these students to write a fourth cleanup problem of their own that needs two steps, fill in the frame for it, and trade with a partner who solves it using a blank frame. A further challenge is to rewrite problem 3 so that the answer becomes 20 pieces, changing only one number and explaining which number had to change.
ELL supports
Preview the words "bags," "cans," "bottles," and "litter" with pictures or real objects before the first reading. Post two sentence frames beside the organizer: "First I find ___," and "Then I find ___." In each problem, highlight in one color the two amounts that get put together and in another color the question words that ask what is left or still there ("left to drop off," "still in the pile," "still there"), because those parts signal which operation belongs in each step.
Extensions
Have students take the same frame outdoors for a schoolyard litter pickup (with gloves and adult supervision, leaving anything sharp for an adult), recording their own two counts and the number handed to the custodian, then completing a row with their real numbers. Using the organizer on data the class gathered itself shows that the four columns describe any two-step situation, not only the printed problems from the town of Nettleford Bend.