3.4.A
The Standard
solve with fluency one-step and two-step problems involving addition and subtraction within 1,000 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and the relationship between addition and subtraction
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Mathematics
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students read a story problem, identify what is known and unknown, and choose addition, subtraction, or both. They solve one or two connected steps with accurate place-value methods. They use operation properties or inverse operations to explain and check their work.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student chooses a workable method without being told which operation to use. The student records equations in the correct order, calculates accurately, and checks subtraction with addition. They explain regrouping using hundreds, tens, and ones.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may combine every number they see instead of using the story to choose operations. They may subtract in the wrong order or forget to use the first result in the second step. Regrouping across a zero can also lead to place-value errors.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: “The library had 638 books. It gave away 176, then bought 245 more. How many books does it have now?” Require two equations, an answer, and one sentence explaining a strategy.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs base-ten blocks and story cards, then have them model each step before writing matching equations.
Ask, “How can addition help you check a subtraction answer?” Have students write an example and explain their thinking to a partner.
Play Operation Detective: teams identify the needed operations on story cards, solve them, and earn a point for each correct explanation.
Set up a class store budget of $1,000, then have students calculate balances after making two purchases or receiving a refund.
Keep exploring
Related Standards
- 3.4.K
solve one-step and two-step problems involving multiplication and division within 100 using strategies based on objects; pictorial models, including arrays, are...
- 4.4.H
solve with fluency one- and two-step problems involving multiplication and division, including interpreting remainders
- 3.5.A
represent one- and two-step problems involving addition and subtraction of whole numbers to 1,000 using pictorial models, number lines, and equations
- 2.4.C
solve one-step and multi-step word problems involving addition and subtraction within 1,000 using a variety of strategies based on place value, including algori...
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