DS doesn't understand long divison

[kiloyd]

DS is 3rd grade. He doesn't understand long division. I walk him through the steps and he understands division, just not long division. Shall I just keep having him do it and he'll "get it "soon?

Katherine

[water2wine]

This is a hard one for them sometimes. Have you tried writing out all the steps on a chalk board and changing the color to show the steps, drawing an arrow to show bringing down the next digit and all that? I found really going over that helped and using it with something we could figure out easily to illustrate it like 100 divided by 25 using a dollar and quarters to illustrate as you write. Just shows them that it is real and does work. I numbered the steps in color and wrote out the words that do with it. This worked really well for my kids. Hope that makes sense and helps a bit.

[Kathleen]

I really liked the explanation in the Singapore book. Having them think of having 5 "hundred bundles" and then if they're dividing by 3, thinking, "How many hundred bundles can I give to each person?" That seemed to make sense to my son. He could see that he could give them each 1, and then there would be 2 left over. So when we went to tens there would be 24 ten bundles (because we opened up the 2 hundreds plus the 4 in the tens column). So, if you give each of the 3 people 8, that would use all of the 24 tens.

Hopefully that makes a little sense.

We always talk about it like we're giving real things to real people and it seems to make more sense and my son more naturally stops to think if his answer is logical.

Kathleen

[6timeboymom]

I'm there with you-My 9 year old has a lot of difficulty with multiplication and division. I haven't yet found the "right" fit for him in math. I LOVE W2W's idea, though! I might give that a try today!

[my3sons]

I really liked the explanation in the Singapore book. Having them think of having 5 "hundred bundles" and then if they're dividing by 3, thinking, "How many hundred bundles can I give to each person?" That seemed to make sense to my son. He could see that he could give them each 1, and then there would be 2 left over. So when we went to tens there would be 24 ten bundles (because we opened up the 2 hundreds plus the 4 in the tens column). So, if you give each of the 3 people 8, that would use all of the 24 tens.

This kind of explanation of it clicked with my ds too, and we just kept at it until he got it. I think long division takes awhile for dc to understand, but it helps if they can know both the steps and also have a general number sense of what's happening when they divide.

In Christ,
Julie

[water2wine]

I have to admit that my kids who pretty much have only had Singapore are dividing without even knowing it. Singapore does an excellent job. The other thing I did for my kids that learned to divide with R&S or else supposedly learned in ps but really did not get it. My Singapore kids just get it and really age wise they should not even be there yet but Singapore just sneaks it in there so that they are already dividing before they know it. Just wanted to clarify that. I have two sets of kids math wise and I can definitely tell the difference.

[mansmom]

If it's just the "process" he's having trouble with...I would get out some graph paper. It helps keep the columns in order and helps them figure out what step to do next. You can also highlight down for hundreds, a different color for tens and so on...which helps make it even more visual.

[kiloyd]

Thank you, I'm going to try using different colors. I thought he was beginning to understand but he's not. He's getting frustrated. ANd we cannot move on 'til he gets it because remainders come next.


I will come back if we need more help.

Thank you!
katherine