I've found that students tend to struggle with problem solving because they read a word problem, pull out the numbers, and jump to conclusions about what to do with them. In my fourth grade class, I always use this process to slow students down. It makes students close read a problem like we do with texts in ELA. They have to read with a purpose each time and think about the main idea of the problem, rather than look for clue words. Thus, I created this organizer to help students slow down when problem solving independently. I've found it also helps them explain their thinking because they have to dive deeper into the word problem.