In 3rd grade we must teach rounding on a number line. I used a wonderful supplement by Blair Turner to introduce rounding on a number line. She had such a real-work connection that my kids really grasped the concept.
Now my kids need practice.
Sure, I could print of paper copies of number lines and have them plot and search.
But where’s the fun in that?
I gave my kids a set of cards. We started out with a set from 1-100 counting by tens.
They quickly ordered themselves from least to greatest.
After that, I chose one student to be the plotted number. I gave them a whiteboard with a number written on it. He/she stood up and help up their white board. We then discussed between what two endpoints would this number most likely fall between.
THEN, I chose one student to be the midpoint. I gave them a whiteboard and we discussed what number is the halfway distance. That student wrote the number on the whiteboard and stood in the center of the endpoints. After a few rounds of this activity we began to notice a pattern with the halfway distance markers.
Would our plotted number fall before or after that number? We then placed our plotted number person to the appropriate part of the number line. Would it be closer to 6,500 or closer to 7,000 on the number line?
This is GREAT to reinforce vocabulary.
My kids really had to explain themselves with their thinking.
“6,900 would be close to 7,000 on the number line because the 9 in the hundreds places tells me that it is only 100 away from 7,000 and 400 away from 6,500. So I know that 6,900 rounds to 7,000”.
Pixie Anne
October 25, 2014 at 1:20 pmThanks for the freebie – I love a human number line!
I've nominated you for the Liebster Award – find out more here: http://growinglittlelearners.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/liebster-award.html
Katie Foley
October 26, 2014 at 8:48 pmI nominated you for the Liebster Award! Check out my blog to accept it.
http://thepawsitivepencil.blogspot.com
Megan @ I Teach. What's Your Super Power?
November 11, 2014 at 4:17 amLove this idea! Just shared it over on my Five on the Fifth post.
Megan
I Teach. What's Your Super Power?
Tiffany Vernon
October 12, 2015 at 3:10 amYes, this is the way rounding should be taught. It teachers the students WHY they are rounding and now just some "trick" to find the answer.
Michelle Reed
September 25, 2016 at 7:04 pmJust fell on this through Pinterest and can’t wait for Tuesday. I had a boring old lesson planned but that’s going out the window!!! Thanks so much!