decimals

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Home : 2002 : September : 9

decimals
By Gerrie

I have taught third,fourth, and fifth grades, and They all have learned decimals this one particular way I teach it. I draw a box in the ones place and call this the box. The decimal is the "and" and the tenths place is
the bars and the hundredths place is the bites(a little square) It takes ten bars to make a box and it takes 10 bites to make a bar and 100 bites to make a box. I know this sounds confusing but it works. I actually draw a box, bar and a bite in the right place. We discuss which shape is bigger (of course the box is and so on. This seems to help them remember about the ones place being

whole numbers. This procedure also helps in comparing decimals as well. I tell the students to compare one number at a time instead of looking at how the number looks. If one number has a box and the other doesn't they can tell which one is bigger. If no boxes they can see who has the most bars and so on. Students seem to pick up on this pretty quickly. If it sounds confusing just email me and I will send you a document explaining it better with visuals if needed. I hope this helps!!