Math Journal Problems--Primary Grades
Some Examples Based on Literature
1. One day Harry the dirty dog had a cat friend visit. They sat down to enjoy some afternoon sunshine by a window. How many legs did they have total? Draw your answer.
2. In the story The Pet Show two pets won prizes for being the smallest pet and the largest pet. Draw a picture to show what you think they looked like.
3. In The Three Billy Goats Gruff there were three goats. How many legs did they have all together? Draw your answer.
4. Before they got to the other side of the bridge to eat the sweet green grass the billy goats were forced to eat garbage. The largest goat ate 4 tin cans. The smallest goat ate three cans and the medium sized goat ate two cans. How many cans did they eat all together? Draw your answer. (It is helpful to teach your students to break down the problem when they draw it. You can teach them to draw the three goats first and then the cans they each ate underneath. They will actually be breaking down the problem in a very similar way to word problems they will be doing in grades three and four.)
5. One day the old woman who swallowed a fly decided to eat only desserts. She really was not a very healthy eater. First, she ate a cake. Then she ate a candybar. Lastly, she ate an ice cream cone. Draw the desserts she ate in the correct sequence.
6. The gingerbread man met a cow and a fox. Which one of these animals is faster? Draw your answer.
7. The gingerbread man tried to get across the river on the fox's back. That was not a very good idea! Can you think of another way the gingerbread man could have gotten across the river? Draw your answer.
8. The old woman baked the gingerbread man at 350 degrees. What do you think would have happened if she baked him at 500 degrees? Draw your idea of what might happen.
9. One day Peter went out to play in the snow. He made a snowball and left it in his snowball in his pocket and it slowly melted. Draw a picture to show another way that Peter could get his snowball to melt faster.
10. One day the little red hen baked a cake for her 8 chicks. She sliced the cake into 8 pieces. Her chicks each got a piece. Draw what this looked like.
11. One day the little red hen baked a loaf of bread for herself and 3 chicks. She sliced the bread into 3 pieces. Her chicks each got a piece but the little red hen didn't get any! How could she slice the bread so that everyone would get a piece? Draw what the bread would look like.
12. Cinderella washed all the floors at 10:00 in the morning. Draw a clock to show the time of day.
13. Cinderella did all the laundry at 2:00 in the afternoon. One hour later she did the sewing. Draw a clock or write the digital time to show when she did the sewing.
14. How many mittens did the three little kittens have total? Show me with a picture of the three pairs. Then write the number to show how many mittens there are.
15. Oh no! The three little kittens are having trouble with their mittens again! They went outside and one of the kittens got his mittens all muddy. Draw a picture to show how many clean mittens were left.
16. The spider frightened Miss Muffet and she dropped her bowl of curds. She had only eaten half the bowl. Draw a picture to show how much she had left.
17. The golden goose laid five eggs one day and two more the next day. Draw how many total she laid.
18. Jack is ten years old. Jill is eight years old. Which one is younger? Draw your answer.
19. The first little pig built his house to be five feet tall. The second little pig built his house ten feet tall. The third little pig built his house 20 feet tall. Draw a picture of what their houses looked like and label with a number one, two and three.
20. Snow White's hair is five inches long. Rapunzel's hair is 50 feet long. Draw a picture of what they look like. Who has longer hair? Label your drawing with their names. (Write the names on the board for the chidren to copy.)
21. Draw a picture of the big bad wolf. Use only shapes. Use a circle for the head. Use triangles for the ears and teeth. Use a rectangle for a snout.
22. The five little monkeys were getting ready for bed. Two of them already had their pajamas on. How many monkeys still needed to get their pajamas on? Draw your answer.
23. Hansel ate nine gumdrops. Gretel ate two less than Hansel. How many gumdrops did Gretel eat? Draw your answer. (You can teach children to figure this out by having them draw all nine gumdrops that Hansel ate. Then have them put an x through two of them to show how many Gretel ate. Showing their work in this way is helpful to learn for standardized tests.)
24. In the treasure cave Aladdin found some beautiful jewels. He found a ruby that was shaped like a circle, a sapphire shaped like a square and an emerald that was shaped like an oval. Draw these treasures of Aladdin.
25. Aladdin lined up his jewels to make an ABC pattern of ruby, emerald, sapphire, ruby, emerald, __________.What jewel does he need next to complete his pattern? Draw it.
26. The little mermaid had a party with some ocean friends. There was one octopus at the party and three fish. How many were at the party? Draw them.