When it’s time to teach rounding with decimals, the easier and more straightforward way is to teach them “the rule” so that they know how to do it right away.
However, just letting them know the steps to round off will leave students knowing how to do but not why it is so.
We should strive to let students understand the mathematical concepts of rounding decimals and whole numbers.
Here are 3 easy steps to help students really understand the concept.
1) Review Rounding Off Of Numbers
Prior to teaching rounding decimals to the nearest tenth and hundredth, you should have already taught rounding tens and hundreds.
Revise these concepts to bring them to the forefront of your students’ minds.
Here are some math resources that may help you:
By linking to students’ prior knowledge, students can see the connection between previous and current learning. Furthermore, you get to revise and know what gaps need to be filled.
So, before even starting to teach rounding of decimals to the nearest tenth or hundredths, let students make guesses on how they should be done.
2) Use Number Line For Rounding With Decimals
To let students have a better understanding of rounding, the number line is the most useful tool.
Check out these no prep, self-checking, and interactive digital task cards:
This practice involves rounding off up to the thousandth place. You can choose to let students do them to see if they know how to round decimals to any place or choose to hide the cards.
3) Practice Rounding With Decimal With A Touch Of Fun
Once your students learn how to round off decimals, it’s time to practice, practice, and more practice!
In the Rounding Off of Decimals, there is plenty of practice with different interactions.
You can choose to assign certain cards as homework or independent work. I wouldn’t advise asking students to complete the whole deck in one session as it might tire them.
Practice 8 to 10 brings a bit more fun to the whole activity. These activities include math tiles, mystery riddles, and grid logic puzzles.
Here are some other freebies from other Teacher-Author:
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