Our first game is Grade 4 Decimals — lots more to come soon!

Grade 4 Decimals Printable Board Game

3. Incorporate computers into your math lesson plans. There is a vast amount of math building skill games available and, moreover, you will be teaching your elementary student important computer skills.
   

4. During other parts of your lessons plan, ask your children to do things by using math. Example: you can ask your students to get out 15÷5 pieces of paper or 2X3 folders. Incorporate the math into everything you do during the day.
   

5. Bring children friendly tape measures to school and teach your students to measure each other first teach them how to read the measurements). Break your students into pairs and have them measure each other.
   

6. Personalize your math lessons, especially when counting, by letting your students count how many things they have at home; I have 4 dogs or my mommy has two cars.

7. This may seem simple but use flash cards as these can be pulled out at any time during the day to reinforce and repeat the math problems you are working on.

8. Instead of asking your students to solve word problems, have them figure out what steps are needed to solve it, maybe even start with a math problem that uses the steps in the math word problem. (If addition and subtraction are needed, do a few of those math problems first)

9. Take your math lessons outdoors and measure your student’s shadows at specified points during the day.

10. On sunny days, teach your students about diameter, circumference, and ratio by measuring around a tree’s trunk and measuring its shadow. Start by holding a ruler to the ground, at a 90 degree angle from the ground, and measuring its shadow; from that ratio of measurements you can accurately estimate the tree’s height.

11. The outdoors is also a great tool for learning charting and temperature measurements. You can chart the temperature changes, pollen count, precipitation, when the sun rose and set, etc…

12. You can even teach your students to chart how long it takes you each day to go places in the school (lunch, restroom breaks, etc…) and compare the times.

13. Use small packages of multi-colored candies to teach probability. Have your students sort the candy into piles of different colors and chart the numbers. The students can then figure out the ratio of each color and then figure out what the probability of selecting in particular color candy our of a large bag is.

14. A simple, yet effective tool in teaching math is repetition.

15. Alternate between lecturing, games, worksheets, and other activities so you can reach each of your students (who all have different learning styles).

16. Use items, such as buttons, so that your students can create different numerical equations. Example, if you have 8 buttons, your students can write out 4+4=8, 2×4=8, 16÷2=8, etc…

17. You can write out on the board different categories of shapes (geometrics) and then have the students find things in your classroom for each category. (Tiles on the floor are square, trash cans are cylinders, the clock is a circle, etc…)

18. Have weigh-ins in your class, if it’s your students or different objects in the classroom, to teach the different weight measurements.

19. This may seem obvious, but get the parents involved. Assign activities that have to be done at home or even over the summer to encourage continued learning.

20. Have your students keep a math journal. This can help them record what they have learned, what they are having problems with, answer specific questions you have asked about math, even graphing things that happened at home (what time they had supper, when the phone rang) etc…

21. If your school will allow it, actually tape different math problems in the bathrooms, that way your students will be thinking about solving math problems un-routinely during the day.

22. You can encourage your students to learn multiplication (or whatever part of math you are learning), depending on there level of knowledge, by having a quick quiz right before lunch; the first one to finish the quiz is first in line, the second is second in line, etc… Eventually, the students at the end of the lunch line will study more so they can get lunch first.

23. To help those shy students and encourage students to help each other all you need are green and red cups because, if during a math lesson (or any lesson) you can ask if everyone understands the math problem, those who understand lift the green cup, those who do not the red one. In addition, the student can leave the red cup on the corner of his/her desk to receive more help when practicing what you taught them.

24. Try a new twist on baseball. Instead of using a ball and bat, use math problems. Have your class divided into two teams, who ever would be the batter is asked a math question, if he/she gets it right he/she moves to first base; it the answer is wrong, the team gets an out. (You can choose however many outs it takes to switch teams)

25. A greater than/less than game that is good to play any time you have spare time is to think of a number in your head (between 1 and 25) and let your students guess at the number; you can say something like it is greater than the number your student guessed or you can say the number I am thinking of is greater than one but less than 25.

26. Have your students, especially if they are having a problem, explain to you what needs to be done in order to solve the math problem, this way they may see what they are doing wrong while reinforcing what you have taught them.

27. Come up with as many different ways as you can to teach the same problem.

28. You can use different textures, such as sand paper, to cut out numbers and help your students learn how to write the numbers by tracing the cutouts.

29. Label different containers in your classroom with what goes in them and the amount of that item that goes in them so that when your students are cleaning up they have to use math to do so.

30. This works, especially if you need a quiet moment! Ask your students to be silent and not move for an entire minute or two and help them to time it; this helps them learn how long a minute is while learning to read a clock.

Decimals do not have to be difficult to learn. Students often do not realize that decimals are part of most currency systems, so they are actually seen and used every day. The following manipulatives can help make the decimal process much easier for everyone:

• Use money to show students basic decimals. The Euro, Canadian dollar and U.S. dollar are all equal to 100 cents. If the dollar or Euro equals one whole, then a ten-cent coin is equal to one-tenth. A one-cent coin is 1/100th. Students can grasp the basic decimal place values by thinking in terms of monetary values. Money also makes the decimals real, instead of just a concept. Some students find it easier to learn math concepts if there is a real-world use for them.
  
  
• Use grid (graph) paper to help students visualize the place values. Have students draw a box that is 10 squares long and 10 squares high. The box is one whole, and each row or column is one-tenth. Each box, then, represents the hundredth place.
  • Have students color in boxes to represent different amounts. For example, they can color in 3 blocks to see what 0.03 looks like.
  • Coloring in the boxes can help students understand addition with decimals. For example, if they are trying to answer 0.02 + 0.05, they can color in 2 boxes, and then color in 5 boxes. When they count the number of boxes, they will get 7 hundredths as their answer.
  • This can also be used to teach multiplication. For example, if the problem is 0.2 x 0.8, the students can use the blocks to see the answer. The problem is in tenths, which is a whole row or column. Have the students color 2 rows in blue. Then have them color 8 columns in red. The number of blocks where the colors overlap, or the number of purple blocks, will be the answer to the problem. In this case, it will be 16 blocks. The students have been taught that one block is equal to 0.01, so 16 blocks would be equal to 0.16.

• Use blocks and a balance to demonstrate place values. Mark a number “1” on the balance. Have blocks labeled 10, 100, 1000, 0.1, 0.01, and 0.001. Place the 10 block on the balance scale in front of the 1. The balance will tip to that side. Explain that it takes 10 ones to make that block. Then put the 0.1 block on the other side, which will level the scale. Explain that the 1 has ten of those blocks. Do not emphasize weight or equality with this exercise. Emphasize the value of ten because that is the base of the decimal system. This lets the students see the number change on each side of the central 1.

First Things First

Pointing this out may seem silly, but it is something that many teachers fail to do. Students need to understand how concepts like fractions and decimals serve any useful purpose in their world. Pointing out the use of decimals in monetary amounts is a great way to get their attention and emphasize the importance of the material.

Students also need to know that decimals, fractions, and percentages are the same thing. Money helps with this, too, because you can point out that twenty-five cents is one quarter, or one-fourth, of one dollar and is also written as $0.25. Once students grasp that 1/4, 25% and 0.25 are all the same, it makes all three concepts easier. Rather than learning all about fractions and decimals and percentages, they are learning all about three ways of relating the same value.

Creative Teaching Ideas

Once students understand that fractions, decimals and percentages are all the same thing, there are a great deal of creative ways to teach decimals.

One way of teaching decimals is to play a game of Decimal Bingo. Instead of calling out spaces, call out fractions. Students then figure out which decimal value on their Bingo card goes with that fraction. You can start out with basic fractions, like one-tenth, one-fourth, one-half, etc., then advance to fractions that require the student to calculate the decimal.

Create a menu for the students, or you can use one from a local restaurant. Do not have even decimal amounts like 0.50 or 0.00 for all of the prices. Tell students they have a certain amount to spend on their meal and let them choose from the menu. This requires adding decimals.

A variation of this is to divide the class into two groups. The first group is the customers who place orders, while the second group is the wait staff who take the orders. The wait staff is required to present the customers with a bill, which customers should double-check before paying.

Another variation is to give students a certain amount of money with which to shop. Give them sales circulars from local stores and let them make a shopping list of the items they can afford with the money they have. This could be an opportunity to work in sales tax, also, if your students are ready for it.

When teaching students to compare decimals, make sure students know the names of the place values. Begin teaching comparison using decimals that all have the same name, which may require adding zeros to the end of some numbers. For example, 0.09 and 0.052 are read, “nine-hundredths” and “52 thousandths.” If you change 0.09 to 0.090, however, it becomes “ninety thousandths.” Comparisons are much easier this way.

Set up shop. Stock your class store with small candy, notebooks, pencils, and other small items. Reward students with fake money, making sure to give coins and bills. At the end of the day, week, or other interval, let students make purchases using their reward money. Set prices so they will have to add decimal amounts while deciding what to buy.

Pay attention to things you do each day, and you will probably find several activities that involve the use of decimals. Find ways to apply those activities in your classroom. This makes the lesson interesting, and it shows the student how this information applies in the world outside of the classroom. Do not be afraid to take baby steps with the students, and be creative in the methods that you use. Students will have an easier time learning, and you will have an easier time teaching.

Math Games including decimals >>>