Rounding Relief....

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Rounding Relief....
By Jodi

I have tried many different strategies dealing with rounding (roller coaster, songs, underlining, etc.) but none worked as well as this one did. I was amazed how into it me kids got! I found this searching on the internet
one day:
Title - We've Got Power
By - Kim Cajacob
Primary Subject - Math
Secondary Subjects -
Grade Level - 3-4
TLW round to the nearest tens, hundreds, and thousands.
Tell students that 0,1,2,3,and 4 have no power, but 5,6,7,8,and 9 have power!
I came up with this wording, so the kids could remember the process better, you may already do the too.
I will start

with by rounding to 10.
I say: write down 23...underline the number in the tens place and circle the number next door.
Question: Does 3 have power? (no) So 3 poofs and flies away! (Students draw a squiggly line up to "number heaven!) Leaving 20.
Next, I say write 57...underline the number in the tens place and circle the number next door. Question: Does 7 have power? (yes!) This time 7 hands over his power of +1 and falls over and dies! (Students make a tombstone to hold his place... sounds terrible, but the kids just started doing that!) Leaving 60.

Continue until most of your class understands the concept of rounding...then move on to 3 digit numbers. I've taught my students numbers in front of the underlined number don't change, and all numbers behind the line will change to zeros in both cases!
I have taught students this for the past 7 years and they rarely forget out to round!

I kindof modified it a bit, instead of the number going up to heaven we just said it died, and took all its friends (any numbers after it) with it, then they would scribble out then number so just the circle around it remained which represents the zero.

Sorry so long but this is a great strategy!