Drawing a Picture to Solve a Story Problem with Numbers Up to 20

Here is where this shows up in real life. Engineers sketch before they build. A sketch is not decoration. It is thinking made visible so mistakes show up early. This is worth learning because drawing turns a confusing story into something your eyes can count.

Watch for it today, and when you spot it, tell someone what you noticed and how you knew. Ask yourself where else the same idea might be hiding, then go and look. Get your eyes and your fingers ready. When a story is too big to hold in your head, draw it. You do not need pretty pictures.

Simple circles or sticks work. Draw the first amount, then show what arrived or what left, then count. For twelve seeds with five planted, draw twelve marks and cross out five. Seven marks remain. A drawing keeps the story still so it cannot slide around while you are thinking about it. One caution about drawings.

Draw exactly as many marks as the story says, not roughly that many. If the story says twelve, count your marks and make sure there are twelve before you go on. A drawing that starts wrong will finish wrong no matter how carefully you count it. You will use this idea again and again, so build it strong today.