Year 6 Problem Solving Unit
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About this unit
Give Year 6 students a clear, repeatable process for approaching practical problems. This complete Mathematics unit teaches students to read for the question, sort relevant from irrelevant information, formulate a mathematical model, estimate, solve efficiently, interpret the result and justify their decisions.
The five-lesson sequence combines explicit teaching, guided examples, partner reasoning and independent application. Students identify red herrings, use brackets to communicate order, calculate discounts and delivery charges, compare valid strategies, interpret remainders and test answers for reasonableness. The final Community Market Challenge asks students to model costs, income and profit before evaluating the strengths and limitations of their approach.
The package includes editable PowerPoint teaching and quiz decks, a colour classroom display, two hands-on resources, five differentiated two-page worksheets, integrated answer pages, a two-page assessment and a five-level rubric. It is suited to whole-class instruction, small-group support, independent practice, revision and summative assessment.
What's included
Problem Solving editable presentation - 19 slides
Problem Solving editable quiz - 22 slides with 10 question-and-answer pairs
Problem Solving unit plan PDF - 31 pages
The Modelling Loop colour classroom display - 1 page
Relevant or Red Herring? cards and sorting/recording mat - 2 pages
Strategy Showdown game board and challenge cards - 2 pages
Worksheet 1: Model the Situation - 2 student pages and 2 answer pages
Worksheet 2: Information Investigator - 2 student pages and 2 answer pages
Worksheet 3: Multi-Step Money Models - 2 student pages and 2 answer pages
Worksheet 4: Estimate, Solve, Check - 2 student pages and 2 answer pages
Worksheet 5: Explain and Justify - 2 student pages and 2 answer pages
Assessment: Community Market Challenge - 2 student pages and 2 answer pages
Problem Solving - Year 6 Rubric - 1 landscape page with five achievement levels
Learning focus
Formulate and solve practical problems using mathematical modelling.
Distinguish relevant information from red herrings.
Select and combine operations, representations and efficient strategies.
Work with natural numbers, rational numbers, percentages and financial contexts.
Estimate and check whether answers are reasonable.
Interpret remainders, units, constraints and rounding decisions.
Compare approaches and communicate justified conclusions.
Classroom use
Use the presentation for explicit whole-class teaching and guided examples. Run Relevant or Red Herring? as a collaborative sorting activity and Strategy Showdown for paired or small-group practice. Assign the two-page worksheets in sequence or select support, core and extension tasks for different groups. Use the editable quiz for review and formative assessment, then complete the Community Market Challenge and five-level rubric as the summative task.
Year, subject and topic
Year level: Year 6
Subject: Mathematics
Topic: Mathematical modelling and practical problem solving
Suggested duration: Approximately 5 lessons plus assessment and review
Curriculum alignment
Australian Curriculum v9
AC9M6N09
Australian Curriculum v8.4
ACMNA123; ACMNA106
Victorian Curriculum 2.0
VC2M6N09
NSW Curriculum
MA3-RN-01; MA3-RN-02; MA3-RN-03; MA3-AR-01
Western Australian Curriculum
ACMNA123; ACMNA106
Common Core State Standards
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.RP.A.3; CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.RP.A.3.C; CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.EE.B.6; CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.EE.C.9; CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.NS.B.3
England / United Kingdom
UK-UKS2-Y6-MATH-N-N; UK-UKS2-Y6-MATH-N-A; UK-UKS2-Y6-MATH-N-F; UK-UKS2-Y6-MATH-R; UK-KS3-MATH-N; UK-KS3-MATH-R
New Zealand Curriculum
NZ-Y6-MATH-NUM-FM-1; NZ-Y6-MATH-NUM-FM-2; NZ-Y6-MATH-NUM-OP-1; NZ-Y6-MATH-NUM-RN-6
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
TEKS-MATH-G6-1A; TEKS-MATH-G6-1B; TEKS-MATH-G6-1C; TEKS-MATH-G6-2A; TEKS-MATH-G6-4B; TEKS-MATH-G6-4D; TEKS-MATH-G6-5A; TEKS-MATH-G6-5B; TEKS-MATH-G6-9A; TEKS-MATH-G6-9C; TEKS-MATH-G6-10A; TEKS-MATH-G6-10B; TEKS-MATH-G6-14A; TEKS-MATH-G6-14C; TEKS-MATH-G6-14H
Ontario Curriculum
CAN-G6-MATH-C4; CAN-G6-MATH-B2.1; CAN-G6-MATH-B2.3; CAN-G6-MATH-D1.6; CAN-G6-MATH-B2.12; CAN-G6-MATH-F1.4; CAN-G6-MATH-F1.5
Curriculum mappings are supplied as planning support. Teachers should confirm alignment with their current local requirements.
Formats, page counts and answers
Unit plan PDF: 31 pages
Presentation: 19 slides
Quiz: 22 slides
Answer-key status: Included - 12 answer pages, with suggested responses for open-ended items where appropriate
Teacher benefits
Provides a coherent explicit-teaching-to-assessment sequence.
Includes ready-to-print support, core and extension practice.
Keeps answer pages beside their matching student pages for faster marking.
Combines editable teaching slides with printable resources.
Supplies a clear five-level rubric aligned to the modelling process.
Digital product and licence
This is a digital product; no physical item is supplied. Purchase grants use by the purchasing teacher in one classroom, subject to Sukindi's current licence terms. Do not resell, redistribute, share publicly or post the files online. Additional users require the appropriate additional licence.
