Following Two-Step Addition and Subtraction Directions Worksheet Download
This worksheet gives a chain of plain directions rather than a story - add one number to another, then carry that result into a second instruction - and asks for the final result. It is built as a step toward multi-step word problems: with the story stripped out, the only things left to get wrong are the arithmetic and the order. The order is the point, because the wording turns on a single word. Subtract 400 from it means the running total minus 400, while subtract it from 400 means 400 minus the running total, and those give different answers from the same numbers. Both forms appear equally often, so a student who reads the word subtract and stops there will get half of them wrong. The second sentence also names the running total correctly, as a sum after an addition and a difference after a subtraction.
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About this worksheet
Students follow a two-step chain of directions, adding and subtracting whole numbers in the order the sentences give them.
Student objectives
- Follow directions that require two steps in a row
- Carry the result of the first step into the second step
- Tell 'subtract 400 from it' apart from 'subtract it from 400'
- Add and subtract whole numbers up to 100,000
Everyday practice
- Work out a bank balance after a deposit and then a payment
- Add up two grocery bills and take the total off your budget
- Combine two distances and subtract them from a trip's total
- Add points from two rounds and see how far you are from a target