Feel free to use the following format for your child to practice creating an image of the important details

in a story problem. Limit the amount of time that your child has to draw the picture (1 2 minutes) so that he/she has to focus on drawing the key details first. This activity will build your childs ability to create a mental image to accompany a math problem (whether it be a number sentence problem or a story problem). Strong mathematical thinkers are able to rely on mental images to help them solve challenging problems. Below is an example of a story problem. Please get creative and change the details in the story in order to provide your child with a variety of problems with which to practice this skill.

Example: Sam had 5 fish. His dad gave him 3 more fish. How many fish doe s Draw this story: Sa m hav e in all?

Show this story on a ten frame:

Write the number sentence for this story:

Answer: Sam has ____ fish in all.