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Monday, November 18, 2013

Multiply Decimals with a Thousandths Grid... I'm Dizzy!!!

Be warned!  Coloring in this model made me dizzy!  And I don't think it had anything to do with being pregnant.

We have a week before Thanksgiving Break, so I decided to not start something so new for math, but expand.  We just finished multiplying with whole numbers, whole numbers by decimals, and decimals by decimals - modeling everything!  You can read about those concepts and get some downloads here. So I thought expanding to using the thousandths grid would be a nice way to end a unit, mixed in with some Thanksgiving themed math of course!

Anyway, here are the notes we took together:

Folded Cover of Math Notes... I would have typed it, but thought about it last minute at the copy machine.   So this is what they get.  It works.


Inside of the notes:
I blew up the thousandths grid so that it was easier to see.  The green was hard to see in the examples, even under my document camera.  I'd use a darker color next time.  Helpful tips: having SHARP colored pencils made it easier to color the thousandths.

I also gave some problems like the ones on the right that they could practice with.  Making sure students write the numbers in the correct place was crucial.

Here are the pdf copies of the notes and problems I gave students: Model with Thousandths Grid

For this concept, I did not start with contextual problems  We had been doing SOOOO much of that with decimals by decimals using the hundredths grid and they GOT it!!  Woo hoo!  For this concept, I really wanted them to be able to figure out place value first.  For example, students may accidentally write .7 when it is in fact .07 that they counted.  The thousandths place also got tricky.

I plan to give them contextual problems on an 11 x 17 sheet of paper like the picture below tomorrow.  It is double sided, so 12 problems were more than enough since we will be in centers this week.  They start this in one center and then continue with me at the next center (so I could see/help) before doing other fun Thanksgiving review stuff.

The word problems I used can be found here: Thousandths Grid Word Problems


By the way, do you ever look on Pinterest or Teachers Pay Teachers and feel like you're never doing anything cute?  I'm making all my word problems, finding models, creating lessons/notes, lessons, quizzes, and enlarging, reducing, and/or cutting and pasting things to be copied the way I want them that I barely have enough time for cute.  Phew!  Talk about late nights.  Oh Common Core!  But hey, they are getting it!  And I am here to share it FREE.  :)


1 comment:

  1. Students often struggle with multiplying decimal digits due to several reasons. One challenge lies in understanding the placement of the decimal point in the product, as it involves counting the total number of decimal places in the multiplicands. Additionally, managing trailing zeros and ensuring accurate alignment during the multiplication process can be confusing. Conceptualizing the significance of each decimal place and grasping the concept of decimal fractions as parts of a whole further complicates the task. These complexities often lead to errors and require careful attention to detail during calculations.

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