Lesson 15 Write Equations for Story Problems

    • Let’s solve story problems and write equations.

Warm-up Estimation Exploration: Paper Cranes

How many cranes are there in the image?

A collection of birds made by folding small pieces of paper.

Record an estimate that is:

too low

about right

too high

Activity 1 Story Problems about Origami

Show your thinking using drawings, numbers, or words.

  1. Clare made some paper cranes.
    She gives 12 of them to Han.
    Now Clare has 7 cranes left.
    How many cranes did she make?

    2 birds made by folding paper.

  2. Tyler made 15 origami butterflies.
    Jada made 9 fewer origami butterflies than Tyler.
    How many origami butterflies did Jada make?

  3. Elena made some red flowers.
    Then she made 12 blue flowers.
    Now she has 18 flowers altogether.
    How many red flowers did she make?

  4. Mai made 8 paper frogs.
    Diego made 17 paper frogs.
    How many more frogs did Diego make than Mai?

    Frogs made by folding small pieces of paper. 

Activity 2 Gallery Walk: Write Equations

Write an equation that matches your classmates’ work for each story problem.

  1. Equation:

  2. Equation:

  3. Equation:

  4. Equation:

Practice Problem

Problem 1

Kiran and Clare made 13 origami swans together.
Kiran made 5 origami swans.
How many swans did Clare make?
Show your thinking using drawings, numbers, words, or equations.