Grade 5

Example

1. When a ranger explains a rule but crosses their arms and looks impatient doing it, ask what the rangers tone or body language told them beyond the actual words, then ask one real follow-up question.
2. After a family discussion about tomorrows plan, ask them to point out something someone communicated only through a look or a shrug, not out loud, then to add a comment of their own that picks up what was actually said rather than starting a new subject.

Example

1. Give them three-step instructions for breaking down the campsite — stove first, then tent, then trash — and ask them to restate all three before starting on any of them.
2. Ask them to give you instructions for setting up the water filter, in order, then follow exactly what they say, including any step they leave out.

Example

1. Ask them to give a two-minute report on todays hike to the rest of the family, standing up, and watch whether their gestures match what they are saying instead of standing stiff, and whether it comes out in whole sentences rather than fragments.
2. After they explain a trail map to a sibling, ask whether they looked at their listener the whole way through, whether their voice reached across the room, whether their pace stayed even, and whether the ends of their words stayed crisp.

Example

1. Before breaking camp, ask them and their sibling to divide up who handles the stove, the tent, and the cooler, then watch whether the plan holds once the work starts.
2. Sit in on a family trip-planning conversation and watch whether they offer to take on a piece of it instead of waiting to be assigned one.

Example

1. Write "select" and "selection" side by side and ask them to read both, noticing how the "t" sound changes to a "sh" sound in the second word.
2. Write "predict" and then "unpredictable" next to it, and ask them to read the longer word, find the base word sitting inside it, and say what the "un-" at the front and the "-able" at the end each do to it.

Example

1. Say "music" and "musician" and ask them to spell both, noticing how the "k" sound becomes a "sh" sound in the spelling.
2. Say "opportunity" and ask them to spell it, breaking it into syllables first.

Example

1. Ask them to write out tomorrows plan in cursive instead of print for their own notebook, connecting the letters all the way through.
2. Have them address an envelope to a grandparent in cursive and check whether a mail carrier could read every word.

Example

1. Look up a word like "canyon" in a dictionary and ask them to find where it originally came from, not just what it means now.
2. Ask them to use a nature app to find the syllable breaks, the pronunciation, and the origin of a word like "arroyo."

Example

1. Read two sentences from a trailhead sign where a word like "switchback" only makes sense once you reach the second sentence, and ask them to explain it using both sentences together.
2. Read "the ranger’s tone was dry" and ask what "dry" means there, then ask what else the word can mean when talking about weather.

Example

1. Write "transport" and ask what "trans-" is doing to "port," then write "supersize" and ask what "super-" adds to "size," then ask them to use one of the two in a sentence about the drive.
2. Write "geology" and "photograph" and ask what part of each word means "earth" and "light."

Example

1. Say "the early bird gets the worm" after we break camp before sunrise, and ask them what old saying that is, what it means here, and where later in the day they could drop it in themselves.
2. Point out a sign that says "this campground rocks" next to a display of boulders, ask them what makes it a pun instead of a plain fact, then ask them to make up one of their own about something at camp.

Example

1. Time one minute of them reading aloud from a book at their level, and count how many words came out right.
2. Read a line in a flat, run-on voice, then ask them to read it back the way the punctuation asks for it — a question rising, an exclamation loud.
3. Hand them a page with a character's line of dialogue on it and ask them to read it so their voice matches whether the sentence is asking, telling, or shouting.

Example

1. Before they start a book they picked themselves, ask them to say why they picked it.
2. Hand them a page you picked out — not one they chose — and ask what they are hoping to get out of it before they start reading.

Example

1. Before they open a book, ask them for one question they already have about it.
2. Stop them mid-chapter and ask what question is on their mind right now.
3. After they close a book, ask what question it never answered.

Example

1. Show them a chapter heading and a diagram before they read it, and ask what they predict the chapter covers, using those two clues rather than a guess out of nowhere.
2. After they notice a story keeps circling back to a spooky house down the road, ask what kind of story that makes it, what stories of that kind usually do at the end, and what those two clues together predict — then check it once they finish.

Example

1. Read a paragraph, close the book, and ask them to describe the picture it makes in their head.

Example

1. After a page about a road trip, ask what in it reminds them of a trip your family has taken.
2. When a character solves a problem the way one in another book did, ask them to notice it out loud.
3. After a book touches on something like a town building a new park, ask how that connects to something happening in the wider world right now.

Example

1. Show them a page where a character is upset but the book never says why, and ask how they can tell — pointing to the exact detail that gave it away.

Example

1. After a page packed with details, ask which one matters most to the story so far, and which ones could disappear without losing anything.

Example

1. After two separate pages mention the same character doing different things, ask what new idea comes from combining what both pages said — an idea neither page said outright.

Example

1. Hand them a book a notch harder than usual, and when a sentence trips them up, hold off — watch whether they go back and reread it or ask a question about it before moving on.
2. When they hit a confusing paragraph, hand over a pencil or a sticky note and ask them to mark the exact spot instead of reading past it.
3. When a confusing page touches on something like tides or wildfires, ask what they already know about it that might explain what is happening, before you fill in the rest.

Example

1. After finishing a book they picked themselves, ask what part of it connects to something in their own life.
2. After a ranger talk or a book you picked out for them, ask the same question — what part of it connects to something in their own life — so the connection isn’t only ever to something they chose.

Example

1. After reading two different accounts of the same event — a diary entry and a news clipping, say — ask them to write a few sentences on where the two agree and where they differ.
2. Ask them to write a short response comparing what two books say about the same animal, pointing out one idea that shows up in both.

Example

1. Ask whether a character was scared or brave, then ask them to point to the exact sentence that proves it.

Example

1. Ask them to summarize a whole chapter in a few sentences, keeping the events in the order they happened.
2. After a nonfiction page, ask them to paraphrase one paragraph in their own words rather than the whole page, and check whether the meaning survived.

Example

1. While they read, hand over a sticky note and ask them to jot down one thing they want to remember.

Example

1. After a book uses a word like "enormous," ask a question about the story and listen for whether that word turns up in their answer.

Example

1. After a chapter, ask them to pick one specific line or moment — not the whole plot — and explain why it matters to what the book is really about.
2. Point to one sentence on a nonfiction page and ask what would change about the meaning of the whole page if that sentence were missing.

Example

1. After a book, ask them to name two different bigger ideas the story seems to be teaching — not just one — and point to a piece of text backing up each.
2. Ask them to argue that a book carries two themes at once, and for each one, name the exact scene that proves it.

Example

1. Ask them to map out how three characters in a book relate to each other — who trusts whom, who argues with whom — and point to the conflict that drives the plot.
2. After a chapter where two characters disagree, ask what the disagreement reveals about how each one sees the other.

Example

1. After a book, ask them to name the four parts in order — what got the trouble started, the tensest moment, where things started calming down, and how it finally got resolved — pointing to a scene for each.
2. Ask them to explain how the ending ties back to the problem introduced at the start, not just what happened last.

Example

1. Ask how the plot would collapse entirely if the story moved to a different time period, not just how it would feel different.
2. After a book set in a particular culture, ask them to trace one specific plot event that could only happen because of that setting.

Example

1. Read a tall tale with an exaggerated hero, like someone who can fell a forest in an afternoon, and ask what makes it a tall tale rather than a legend.
2. Read two old stories back to back — one that explains something in nature, one about a real place or person with exaggerated details — and ask which is which and why.

Example

1. Find a line with repeated starting sounds or a comparison using "like" or "as," and ask what feeling or picture that device creates.
2. After a poem written in first person, ask them whether the voice speaking is the same person who wrote it or a character the writer invented, and how they can tell.

Example

1. Show them a script page and ask what the word printed before each line of dialogue is for.
2. Ask them to find where the stage directions sit on the page and what they tell an actor to do that the dialogue does not say.
3. Show them a play split into scenes within one act and ask what changes between the scenes.

Example

1. After a page or two about something like migration, ask what the central idea is and what evidence in the text backs it up.
2. Point to an inset box, a timeline, or a sidebar next to the main text and ask what it adds that the paragraph text does not say.
3. Ask whether a page is organized in the order things happened or by which point matters most, and how they can tell.

Example

1. Read a short argumentative piece and ask them to find the one sentence that states the claim.
2. After the same piece, ask them to point to a fact the author included and explain how it is being used — working for the argument, or working against it — rather than just that it is there.
3. Ask who the piece seems to be written for, and what in the writing gives that away.

Example

1. After trying an e-book or a reading app's version of a story, ask what it had that a paper book does not — sound, animation, buttons to tap.
2. Look at a website page about a place you are visiting and ask what is different about reading it compared to a printed page.

Example

1. After finishing a book, ask whether the author wrote it to tell a story, teach something true, or make someone laugh.
2. Ask what message or point the author seems to want the reader to walk away with, separate from what happened in the plot.

Example

1. Ask why a page is organized as a comparison — two trail options, say — instead of one long description, and how that choice serves what the author is trying to do.
2. Show them a problem-solution page and ask how organizing it that way, instead of by what happened first, helps the author make the point.

Example

1. Point to a heading, a caption, and a bolded word on the same page and ask what job each one is doing that plain paragraph text is not.
2. Ask why a map or a chart appears where it does on the page rather than somewhere else, and what purpose it serves right there.

Example

1. Find a sentence whose plain, literal description drops a sight, a sound, or a smell straight into your head, and ask which exact words did it and what the author gained by putting them there.
2. Find a word that imitates the sound it describes, like "crackle" or "hiss," and ask what that word choice adds beyond just naming the sound.
3. Find a simile or a metaphor and ask what two things are being compared and what picture that comparison creates.

Example

1. Read a page written as "I" and ask who is narrating, then ask what the story would lose if it switched to "she."
2. Ask them to explain why an author might tell a story from one character's point of view instead of a narrator who knows everything.

Example

1. Read a page with short, punchy sentences next to one with long, wandering ones, and ask what each style tells them about the kind of person telling the story.
2. Point to a word choice that feels casual or formal and ask what that choice tells them about the voice behind the writing.

Example

1. Find a sentence that obviously exaggerates, like "I told you a million times," and ask what that exaggeration adds that the plain truth would not.
2. After a book leans on a flat, one-note side character, ask what shortcut the author took instead of giving that character a real description, and why that shortcut works less well the longer you think about it.
3. Find a short personal story an author drops into a nonfiction page to make a point, and ask what point it is illustrating.

Example

1. Before they write about today’s stop, ask them to brainstorm three different ways it could be told — a story, a set of facts, a letter — and pick the one that fits who will read it.
2. Ask them to sketch a quick map of ideas — a circle for the topic with lines out to each detail — before they decide whether the piece is a story or a report.

Example

1. Ask them to draft the campsite story with an opening sentence that sets the scene, a linking sentence connecting the middle to the end, and a closing sentence that wraps it up.
2. Have them write a paragraph about the visitor-center exhibit that goes beyond a surface fact — ask what deeper point it's making — and back it with two specific details, not one.

Example

1. After they draft a paragraph about the tide pools, ask them to combine two short, choppy sentences into one.
2. Ask them to cross out one sentence in their draft that doesn’t belong, add one carrying a detail the reader is still missing, then try moving the last sentence to the front and see if it reads better.
3. Read their draft back to them and ask them to swap one plain word for a more exact one — not "big," but how big.

Example

1. Write "the team are practicing however the crowd was cheering" and ask them to fix the collective noun "team" so it agrees as one unit, then swap "however" for the conjunctive adverb that actually connects the two ideas, with the right punctuation around it.
2. Write "everyone were tired after the hike" and ask them to fix the indefinite pronoun so it agrees correctly, then ask them to combine it with another sentence using a subordinating conjunction like "although" or "because."
3. Write "we visited the nps office on tuesday and borrowed a book called the wolves of yellowstone" and ask them to capitalize the acronym correctly and put the book title in italics or underline it.

Example

1. Ask them to read their finished piece out loud to the family before it goes in the mailbox.
2. Ask them to pick one piece of writing from this week and choose the right reader for it — a note for a grandparent, a report pinned up at the campsite — and get it to them.

Example

1. Ask them to write a few sentences about something that actually happened on the trip — the afternoon the trail flooded, say — in the order it happened, with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
2. Ask them to invent a scene that never happened — a raven leading them to water, say — keeping it clearly separate from what really occurred.
3. Ask them to write a few short lines about the wind at the overlook that repeat one line on purpose, or rhyme, or compare the wind to something else.

Example

1. Ask them to write a few sentences about the animal from the visitor-center exhibit that all support one main idea, not just a list of separate facts.
2. Ask them to write the steps for setting up their own tent, in order, with an opening sentence that says what the whole piece is about.

Example

1. Ask them to write a few sentences arguing for their pick of the best campsite we’ve had, with one reason a stranger would find convincing — not just "because I liked it."
2. Ask them to write an opinion piece arguing for staying longer at the last park next time, stating the opinion in the first sentence and backing it with two reasons.

Example

1. Ask them to write a letter to a park ranger station in a state we have not visited yet, asking one specific question about year-round weather or hiking conditions there.
2. Ask them to write to a museum or visitor center requesting its hours and whether a specific exhibit is worth planning around, before we commit to a stop.

Example

1. At a trailhead sign, ask them to come up with one real question they’re curious about — like why that plant only grows near water.
2. When their question is something broad like "why is the desert like this," help them narrow it into something a ranger could actually answer — like why this one plant only grows near the wash.

Example

1. Once they have a question about how beavers build dams, sit with them and decide what to check first, second, and third, then watch whether they actually work through that list in the order they set.
2. Help them turn their question into a short plan — where will they look first: a ranger, a trail sign, or a book back at the RV?

Example

1. Once they have a question about the park’s biggest animal, ask them to name three different places that might have the answer — a trail sign, a ranger, a book — before they start looking.
2. Ask them to pull three facts from the visitor-center exhibit that actually answer their question, not just facts sitting nearby it.

Example

1. At a historic site, ask them which is more trustworthy for what actually happened — the original letter in the display case or a modern summary sign — and why.
2. Show them two accounts of the same event, one from someone who was there and one written decades later, and ask which one they would trust more for a specific detail, and why.

Example

1. After they gather facts about the park’s biggest animal, ask them to tell you back, in their own words, what they found out — no notes.
2. Ask them to draw or write what the ranger’s answer meant, then check it against what was actually said.

Example

1. Show them three write-ups of the same ranger fact — one copied word for word, one reworded but still following the sentence structure, and one genuinely in their own words — and ask them to sort which is plagiarism, which is still risky, and which is safe.
2. Read a sentence from a trail sign word for word, then ask them to say the same fact back in their own words, explaining what specifically makes their version different enough.

Example

1. As they collect facts about the park’s biggest animal, ask them to jot down the source of each one right away — the sign, the ranger, the book — so the list builds as they go instead of being reconstructed at the end.
2. After they finish a report, ask them to check their running source list against every fact in it, adding any source they forgot to log along the way.

Example

1. Let them choose how to share what they found out — telling it out loud, writing it up, or making a poster with pictures and words — then have them present it after dinner.
2. Ask them to pick between a spoken report and a written one, then share it with the rest of the family.
3. Before they choose, ask them who will actually see this — a ranger who needs it fast, or a grandparent far away — and whether that changes which mode makes the most sense.

Example

1. A campground charges $32 a night. Ask what four nights comes to, then hand over the receipt and ask whether it matches.
2. Ask how many packs of 8 water bottles it takes to get 40 bottles into the cooler.

Example

1. Give a two-step problem and ask what they would do first, before any arithmetic happens.
2. After an answer, ask why it is reasonable. Listen for a reason rather than a re-check of the steps.

Example

1. Ask for 5 x 60 and watch whether they reach for paper. Reaching for it at this size is the thing worth noticing.
2. Ask which is easier for 47 x 6, mental math or writing it down, and why.

Example

1. Ask them to show 6 x 7 two ways: with a drawing, and with a number sentence.
2. Ask them to explain a division out loud, without pointing at the page.

Example

1. Ask them to keep a tally of something on a drive and turn it into a table at the end.

Example

1. Ask what 6 x 4 has to do with 6 x 40.
2. Ask why knowing 5 x 8 helps with 6 x 8.

Example

1. Ask them to convince you that one third is bigger than one fourth, using the word "parts". Listen for whether the bigger bottom number pulls them the wrong way.

Example

1. Write 0.617 and ask them to expand it as 0.6 + 0.01 + 0.007, matching each part to the digit it came from.
2. Write 5.203 and ask what the 2 is worth versus what the 3 is worth — two tenths against three thousandths.

Example

1. Write 0.485 and 0.458 side by side and ask which is greater, and which symbol goes between them.
2. Write 3.06, 3.6, and 3.060 on three cards and ask them to put them in order, then say which two are actually equal.

Example

1. Round 4.267 to the nearest tenth, then round the same number to the nearest hundredth, and ask what changed each time.
2. Round 0.895 to the nearest hundredth and ask which two hundredths it sits between.

Example

1. A gallon of milk costs $3.79 and a loaf of bread costs $2.85. Ask for an estimate of the total, then an estimate of how much more the milk costs, before working either one out exactly.
2. Ask them to estimate 289 divided by 6 using compatible numbers before dividing it out.
3. Before multiplying 68 by 21, ask them to round each number first and say roughly what to expect.

Example

1. Ask for 428 times 36 using the standard algorithm.
2. Ask for 512 times 47, and check the answer by estimating first — is it close to 500 times 50?

Example

1. Ask for 4,896 divided by 24 using the standard algorithm.
2. Ask for 7,308 divided by 18, then check the answer by multiplying back.

Example

1. Draw a 10-by-10 grid and shade to show 0.4 times 0.6, then ask them to count the double-shaded squares for the product.
2. Draw an area model for 1.2 times 0.3 on a grid split into tenths, and ask them to find the product from the shaded region.

Example

1. A camp store sells trail mix at $2.35 a bag. Ask for the cost of 4 bags, worked out by multiplying.
2. Ask for 0.6 times 0.4, then for 6 times 4, and ask what they notice about the two answers and the decimal point.

Example

1. Draw an area model for 84.96 divided by 24 and ask them to fill in the missing side.
2. Draw a pictorial model for 15.75 divided by 15 and ask them to compare the strategy to whole-number division.

Example

1. Ask for 74.52 divided by 12 using the standard algorithm.
2. Ask for 61.25 divided by 25, then check the answer by multiplying back.

Example

1. Ask for one half plus one third, using fraction strips cut into sixths to find a common size of piece.
2. Ask for three fourths minus one sixth, and have them find a common denominator with paper strips before subtracting.

Example

1. Draw three circles and shade two thirds of each, then ask for the total shaded amount as 3 times two thirds.
2. Draw an area model for 4 times three fifths using four rows of a fifths strip.

Example

1. Cut a strip standing for one third into 4 equal pieces and ask what fraction of the whole strip each small piece is — that is one third divided by 4.
2. Ask how many one-third cups it takes to fill 5 whole cups, then draw the pictorial model that shows five wholes each split into thirds.

Example

1. Ask for two fifths plus one fourth, done fluently without drawing a picture first.
2. Ask for 5.6 minus 2.75, done fluently using the standard algorithm.

Example

1. Ask for 6 divided by one third, and then one third divided by 6, and notice the two answers are not the same operation reversed.
2. Ask how many one-fourth servings come out of 3 whole pies.

Example

1. List the numbers 2 through 20 and ask them to circle every prime one, then say why each of the rest is composite.
2. Give them 17 and 21 and ask which is prime and which is composite, and how they can tell without a chart.

Example

1. A three-stop drive covers legs of 212, 96, and 158 miles, split evenly between two drivers. Ask for an equation with a letter standing for one driver’s share, then ask them to solve it.
2. You start with $140, buy 4 tents at the same price, and have $12 left. Ask for an equation with a letter standing for one tent’s price, then ask them to solve it.

Example

1. Give the rule y = x + 3 and ask them to build a table for x = 1 through 5, then plot the pairs.
2. Give the rule y = 2x and ask them to build the table, graph the points, and say what shape the points make.

Example

1. Show two tables side by side — one where y is always x plus 4, one where y is always x times 4 — and ask which pattern is additive and which is multiplicative.
2. From a graph of points climbing by the same amount at every step, ask whether getting from one point to the next means adding or multiplying.

Example

1. Write 3 + (4 x 2) and (3 + 4) x 2 side by side and ask what job the parentheses do differently in each.
2. Ask what job the brackets do in 2 x [10 - (2 + 3)], and what changes about its value if every grouping symbol is taken away.

Example

1. Ask them to simplify [(6 + 2) x 3] - 4, working from the innermost parentheses out.
2. Ask them to simplify 5 x [(9 - 4) + 2].

Example

1. Build a box from unit cubes 4 long, 3 wide, and 2 tall, and ask for its volume by counting, then by multiplying length times width times height.
2. Build a cube 3 units on a side from unit cubes and ask for its volume both by counting and by using side times side times side.
3. Cover the bottom of a box with unit cubes and ask them to find the area of that layer, then use it with the height to get the total volume without covering every layer.

Example

1. A rectangular tent pad measures 10 feet by 8 feet. Ask for the perimeter of the edging and the area of the ground cloth it needs.
2. A cooler measures 2 feet long, 1 foot wide, and 1 foot tall. Ask for its volume in cubic feet.

Example

1. Draw a graphic organizer with "quadrilaterals" at the top and ask them to nest "square," "rectangle," and "rhombus" inside it to show which shapes are also which other shapes.
2. Ask whether every square is a rectangle, and whether every rectangle is a square, then have them sort a mixed stack of quadrilaterals into a diagram that shows the difference.

Example

1. Hand over a single unit cube and ask what one cubic unit means, then have them build a shape from 12 of them with no gaps or overlaps and count the volume.
2. Build an L-shaped figure from unit cubes and ask them to count the cubes for the volume, checking there are no gaps or overlaps.

Example

1. Build a box with a 4-by-3 base and 2 layers of unit cubes, and ask them to find the area of one layer, then multiply by the number of layers for the total volume.
2. A shipping box is 5 units long, 2 units wide, and stacked 3 layers tall. Ask for the volume using the layers method, then check it against length times width times height.

Example

1. Ask how many quarts are in 3 gallons, given that 1 gallon equals 4 quarts.
2. Ask how many centimeters are in 2.5 meters, given that 1 meter equals 100 centimeters.
3. A recipe calls for 24 ounces of trail mix. Ask how many pounds that is, given that 1 pound equals 16 ounces.

Example

1. Draw a coordinate plane and ask them to point to the origin, then say which number of an ordered pair — the first or the second — moves parallel to the x-axis, and which moves parallel to the y-axis.
2. Ask what point sits where the two axes cross, what its coordinates are, and why two number lines crossing that way are called perpendicular.

Example

1. Ask them to explain, in their own words, the steps for plotting the point (3, 5) starting from the origin.
2. Give the pair (4, 2) and ask which direction to move first and which second, and why the order matters.

Example

1. Give an input-output table where the output is always the input plus 2, and ask them to plot each pair on the coordinate plane.
2. Record the miles hiked next to the day number for a five-day stretch, and ask them to graph the pairs in the first quadrant.

Example

1. Count how many campsites had a fire ring, a picnic table, both, or neither, and ask them to build a frequency table, then a bar graph from it.
2. Record five hikes with distances that include halves and quarters of a mile, and ask them to build a dot plot marked in quarters.
3. Record a week of gas-tank fill amounts in gallons, several of them decimals, and ask them to build a stem-and-leaf plot.

Example

1. Record the number of pages read and the number of days it took for five different books, and ask them to plot the pairs on a scatterplot.
2. Record hours driven and miles covered for a week of travel days, and ask them to plot the pairs on a scatterplot.

Example

1. From a bar graph of tent-site counts at three campgrounds, ask how many more sites two of them have combined than the third, then ask the same question off the frequency table the graph was built from.
2. From a dot plot of hike distances in quarter-miles, ask for the total distance of the three longest hikes, then have them find those same three on a stem-and-leaf plot of the week’s mileage.
3. From a scatterplot of hours driven against miles covered, ask how many more miles the longest driving day covered than the shortest.

Example

1. Ask them to explain the difference between a sales tax added at a register and a property tax billed once a year.
2. Ask what payroll tax is taken out of a paycheck for, and how income tax differs from it.

Example

1. Give a pay stub showing $600 earned before deductions and $478 after, and ask which number is gross income and which is net.
2. Ask why the amount that lands in a bank account is usually smaller than the amount a job pays before deductions.

Example

1. Ask what happens to money right away with a debit card versus a credit card, and which one can leave a bill due later.
2. Ask why a campground might prefer an electronic payment over a check, and what a check offers that the others do not.

Example

1. Hand over a week of receipts from gas, groceries, and campground fees, and ask them to set up a simple way to log and total them.
2. Ask them to design a page for tracking chore money earned and spent over a month, and explain why they organized it that way.

Example

1. Give a budget where $340 comes in and $380 goes out, and ask what two things could change to bring it back into balance.
2. Ask what happens to a budget if the price of gas jumps for a month, and what could be cut to cover it.

Example

1. Give a monthly budget with $400 in income and expenses adding to $365, and ask for the amount left over.
2. Give a budget with $250 in income and expenses adding to $260, and ask them to find $10 to cut so it balances.