3 Reads is a Math Strategy for comprehending math problems.

Setting the stage:
“We are going to work on a word problem today. We will read it three times. Each time I am going to ask you to answer a specific question. The first time you will have to listen carefully because I am going to read it out loud to you.”

First Read (comprehending the text):
“Listen carefully. What I would like you to listen for is:
What is this problem about?

Read out loud a problem stem, a word problem without the question.

For example:
“Sara had a bag of candies. She gave 12 of her candies to Rebecca. Then Sara gave 6 of the candies she had left to John. After giving candies to Rebecca and John, Sara had 24 candies left in her bag.”
Debrief.

Second Read (comprehending the mathematics):
"What are the numbers in the problem?
What do they mean?"

What are the quantities in this situation? How are those quantities related?”
Debrief.

Third Read (listing all possible mathematical questions):
“____ will read the situation for us one more time. This time I would like you to think about what the question the problem is asking you to answer. Not what the people in the situation are wearing, but questions about the quantities and their relationships.
What are all the possible mathematical questions we could ask of this situation?

Then work to solve the problem
Debrief.

Use this editable doc in your interactive notebook.

Create an anchor chart posing the three questions:
1. What is the problem about?
2. What are the numbers in the problem? What do they mean?
3. What is the question the problem is asking you to answer?

I hope you enjoy this freebie,
I would greatly appreciate your feedback.
Be sure to check my store for other activities/lessons.