Last week I helped you introduce division to your third graders. Click here to view that blog post. Today, Let’s look at division strategies for your fourth or fifth graders.
1. Use Manipulatives!
You may be tempted to skip this step, but it’s crucial for students to start at the concrete stage in order to develop conceptual understanding of division. Below are some examples of how you can use base ten blocks to model division. One way to model 68 ÷ 4 is shown below.
2. Use an Area Model for Partial Quotients
Students know they can find the area of a rectangle by multiplying the length x width.
In the model below, we know the width and the total area of the rectangle. We need to find the length.
3. Partial Quotients
In this example, students need to find out how many groups of 6 are in 1,428. It would take a very long time to use the repeated subtraction strategy learned in third grade.
Instead, students can take out chunks in groups of 6 by using the partial quotients strategy.
Below is another example of taking out chunks in groups of 7.
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What’s next?
If your 4th or 5th graders are struggling with these strategies, they may need to go back and review the basics of division.
Click here to read a blog post focused on introducing division to third graders.
Need resources for your math centers?
Click the images below to view fourth and fifth grade paper and paperless math centers.
Natalie
Thank you for sending this out! I was just talking to my husband this morning, that I needed to do something with my 6th graders to help them with division.
Mrs. Santillana
I’m so happy to help 🙂
Tina G
While I love using partial quotient for my students who struggle with division, when we get to decimals, my students have been unable to grasp dividing by a fraction of a number. It’s frustrating to them to then have to switch to a traditional long division format.
Colleen
I need help!! Please send me the free printables.