Solving word problems in Grade 2.
The following example is from a research project, 'How old is the captain?', by Christoph Selter, Vol.5 No 1, October 1984

What will the Grade 2 students make of this first question?  This totally redundant question illustrates a common problem with word problems: children often just look at the numbers and calculate.  A further issue is that publishers of maths text books presume the number ranges that are appropriate for a particular grade which can lead to assumptions being made by students as to what operation(s) should be used.  A grade 5 once said to me: 'word problems are easy! If there are single digits you always multiply; if there's a big number and a little number you always do division; if there are two big numbers it's nearly always an adding; If there are two big numbers that are close together in size it's always a subtraction; if there are two 2-digit numbers it's always multiplying.....!
Check out the textbooks!  Is this student correct?