Thursday, December 18, 2014

Long Division and Fun…How Do These Two Words Go Together?!


In fifth grade, we have been working on long division for the past three weeks. The students have learned a variety of strategies to use when solving long division problems. Partial quotient is one of the methods used to divide large numbers. This particular method allows students to look at the entire dividend, rather than looking at each digit one at a time.  Students can apply their knowledge of powers of ten to use manageable numbers when dividing.  One of the benefits to using this strategy is that the students have a better understanding of what they are doing to get the quotient. This method has become many of the students’ favorite. 

“I didn’t like partial quotient, I loved it because it help me understand division.” Denise

“I think it is a fun, cool way to find out the answer to a division problem.” Caden

“I think the think bubble helps a lot.” Mason

I was recently introduced to the app, Explain Everything at our district’s inservice last Friday.  As I was learning about this app, I immediately thought this would be a perfect tool for my students to show me what they know about using partial quotients.  It turned out to be a great formative assessment for me and a fun learning experience for the kids!

Below is an example of a student’s explanation of partial quotients.



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