Introduction to Rounding

I put together a blog post of FREE TpT Worksheets for Rounding back on December 6, 2020 so check it out if you're looking for more resources.

Some math skills you need to practice abstractly because there aren't that many real-life instances of them. Rounding is a perfect example!

I will introduce Estimation in grade 2, but I wait on Rounding until grade 3. The Waldorf Third Grade curriculum lends itself extremely well to practicing this new skill in a wide variety of contexts (rounding with whole numbers, money, and time, as well as units of distance, mass, and capacity).

Reinforce in Fourth Grade and practice with Fractions.

Reinforce in Fifth Grade and practice with Decimals.

This week I introduced the idea of rounding on Monday. We practiced with a pile of fir cones (to the nearest 10), our ages (to the nearest 10 and 100), a ruler (to the nearest foot), and a clock (to the nearest hour and half hour).

Today I gave them a worksheet and hands-on activity to do from TpT:

Rounding with a Number Line ($3.00)
lots of scaffolding; rounding to 10s, 100s, 1000s, and 10,000s

Because we blend Waldorf and Montessori here, we use the Montessori color coding for place value. That means that I got out my light table translucent counters in the appropriate colors. Blue if we were rounding to the nearest 10. Red if we were rounding to the nearest 100. Green if we were rounding to the nearest 1000. Blue if we were rounding to the nearest 10,000.

I loved this hands-on activity that walks them through rounding step by step. First, you draw cards to determine your number. Next, you figure out which number is lower than and higher than your number, based on what you are rounding to, and place counters in the appropriate spots on your number line. Then you think about the halfway point. Finally, you look at your number again and see whether it is above or below the halfway point.

I like the record sheet too! You can fold the record sheet in half to do just five practice problems. Then if you feel you need more practice, you can unfold it and choose to do 10 problems or even 15.

The children worked in partners and they really enjoyed this activity.

you can also make your number with the Stamp Game for extra support

because the counters are color coded, you know which digit to focus on!

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