Word Problem to Solve

Read the following problem. Don't try to solve it yet--just think about what you need to do.

Alexis had 98 trading cards last Saturday. She gave a dozen to her little brother but her big brother gave her a pair. Alexis traded 9 more cards for 4 new ones that were more valuable. She then traded another half dozen for 1 that she had been hoping to find. Alexis wants to get a card album for her birthday so she can organize all her cards. Yesterday she was running home with all of her cards in her bag. She dropped 2 of her cards along the way because the bag was not zipped.

How many cards did she have when she got home?

What is the first thing that you would do to solve this problem? Write it in your Lesson Notes.