THE OTHER LONG DIVISION

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Home : 2003 : November : 25

THE OTHER LONG DIVISION
By HEIDI

My kids loved the division rap... because I tried to sing it and really hammed it up for them with one kid making rap sounds. Then they practiced it several times. Now out of the blue if I ask the steps of division, they
sing me the chorus... even though we did it weeks ago!
Are you teaching long division the old way we all learned? There is another newer way that seems to provide that AHA! moment for kids who just don't grasp the other method. I'll try to explain but you can e-mail me for a MS Word document that will probably convey it better!
For example 234 divided by 8. Get students to use

the math facts they know. Their goal is simply to use up "chunks" of the 234 until there are no chunks left. They must record each thing they do. Read on to see... I know 8 x 10 is 80, so I can subtract 80 under the dividing problem to show that I've used up 80. I don't write an answer on top yet, but I do put (8 x 10) in brackets over to the right beside my problem to keep track of it. This will be important later on.

Now I have just 154 left to "use up". So I know I can do 8 x 10 again and subtract another 80. That leaves me with just 74 now to use up. Well, I'll do 8 x 5 and subtract 40. So now I have just 34 of the original 234 to figure out. I know that 8x3 is 24 so I can subtract that from the 34. Now I just have 10 remaining. So I will say 8x1 and subtract 8 from the 10. Now I only have 2 remaining and that can't be divided by 8 so it must be a remainder. But I still don't have an answer. Did you notice that every times question I used started with 8? That's becuase the divisor was 8, so I have to use that all the way through. Look at the list of multiplying I did. Ignore the 8 number but use the other number from each question. Add them up and that is your answer that you write on top of the problem. Placement doesn't matter using this method because puttin it in the wrong spot won't mess up your work. So I figure 10+10+5+3+1=29 Check my math the old way... I hope it matches up!

Kids understand this method and it is just as valid as our other method. In fact, in my province, I have to teach both!