How to Teach Rounding to 3rd Graders

Hey, there fellow 3rd Grade Teacher Friend!!

Whether you're new to the grade level or just need some extra tips on teaching Gr.3 Math, I'm here to support you with tips, ideas, and resources to best address your Math Standards!

Did you know that most of the math content taught in 3rd grade is brand new concepts for your students? For the first time ever, many students tend to struggle with math because they're learning everything for the first time! I'll be updating this blog frequently to share some tips with you on teaching these tricky math standards!

Before we begin though, I did want to share this important resource with you. Use this as a guide to know what your critical math content is and where you should spend the most of your time and focus on in instruction.

Let’s jump in and talk Rounding: 3.NBT.1.

 

First things first, Rounding is NOT a critical skill for 3rd Grade. I would not spend any longer than 1 week (max) focusing on this skill. Students WILL need to know and understand how to round in the 4th grade (they will round to larger place values).

Now, I want you to forget about all prior ways of teaching rounding you may have used in the past. 

• Rounding Mountain

• The Roller Coaster

• Any cute songs or poems about “5 or more raise the score…” or “underling the digit you’re rounding to, look next door”

ALL OF IT! 

What is Rounding?

Engage in discussion with students about what it means to round. They must understand that rounding means estimating a number's value by finding the nearest ten or hundred.

Then, you'll want to talk about instances when a student might use rounding.

Before Teaching:

Before teaching, make sure that students can skip count by 10s. Continue to skip count well into the hundreds so that students can see/hear the patterns (110, 120, 130, 140…..210, 220, 230, 240, etc). 

The Simplest Way to Teach Rounding:

Number lines are the best way for students to visually see and understand what a number will round to. 

I’ve created this number line that can be used for Rounding to the Nearest 10 and 100. Before teaching, all you need to do is print a double-sided copy for each student and place them in a sheet protector. Each child will have their own to work from. They can simply use an expo marker to practice and then erase.

1. Ask students what two 10s the number is in between. Label it on the number line.

2. Ask students what the halfway point between those two 10s is. 

3. Ask students where the number they are rounding falls on the number line? Is it before or after the midway point? Plot it.

4. Students can then visually see which 10 the number is closest to. 

You would follow this same procedure for rounding to the nearest 100. 

This method is so simple, yet so effective! Have kids hold their “boards” up so that you can do a quick scan around the room to check for accuracy. The best thing about this strategy is that eventually, students will begin to visualize that number line in their heads and will no longer need to draw it out! 

Guided Practice

Rounding is so easy because you can literally throw out ANY number for students to practice with. BUT, if you want something consistent and all the answers figured out for you, I’ve got a set of Rounding Task Cards for you available in print form OR a Digital Google Form (best thing about this is that it self grades for you!) If you want to save 10%, you can pick up both items in this bundle.

I also have these Quick Check Formative Assessments in my store for use with ALL of your Grade 3 NBT Standards.

For more tips, tricks, ideas and FREEBIES specifically geared towards 3rd Grade - be sure to subscribe to my exclusive 3rd Grade Teacher Email List! 

Unit next time! Aloha,

September Morning Math FREEBIE

Today I'm here to share how to turn your students into Mathematical Thinkers! 

During my first year of teaching, I found that my students really struggled with word problems. They had a difficult time understanding what to do and how to solve; especially when all 4 operations have been introduced. In order to get better at anything, students must be given practice. They need to be exposed to word problems frequently..not only during your unit in which word problems are covered. 

So--I ended up creating weekly morning math problems. I wish you could see how this set has transformed since my first year of teaching! I've probably revised this product a total of 4 times. 

Each day, students will take care of their morning business (turning in homework, copying down the night's homework, getting their supplies out for the day, etc). As a part of morning business, students are required to work on 3 math problems a day. 

In the beginning of the year (August), they start off with only 2 problems which review 2nd grade Common Core State Standards. September transitions them into 3 problems daily with the exception of some Fridays. 

It is important that your students practice, but it is even more important that you students engage is mathematical conversations. Your students must be able to explain and justify their reasonings for choosing a particular answer. 

For about the first month and a half, I will model for students how to lead the class in correcting their morning math as well as how to facilitate conversations. After that, the correcting is all up to the students. 

Every afternoon we take out our Morning Math Books and a red pen. Students go up to the front of the room and share how they solved the problem. If a student got the incorrect answer or are having a difficult time understanding, they raise their hand to let the 'teacher' know. It is then up to the 'teacher' to come up with another way to explain to help out their friend. 

It is so amazing to hear your students saying things like "How do you know your answer correct?", "I like the way you solved the problem", "Don't you mean to say 4 tens, not 4?" "I got lost when you explained ___, could you go back and say it again". 

I love to hear them having conversations about math, helping each other to see math in different ways as well as how to explain and justify their answers in different ways. For those students who may have difficult time explaining their answers, it is so valuable for them to be able to hear others explain. Eventually they get the hang of it, and will be begging to be the 'teacher' to correct the day's Morning Math. 

If you'd like to try this out with your students, I have a FREEBIE sample of September's Morning Math available for you here. 

Five for Friday {Saturday Edition}

Good Morning and Happy Saturday!! I sure am happy it's Saturday..this was an exhausting, yet busy week! 

Today I'm linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching for her Five for Friday!

We've been hard at work researching and taking notes for our big Endangered Species Research Project. The kids are SO Excited and get so upset as they are learning more about why these animals are critically endangered. 

If you're interested, you can find these note taking pages along with the booklet we plan to use to present our final project with in my TpT Store. 

We've also been working on linear measurements this week. Third graders are required to be able to measure object to the nearest one-fourth inch. 

                   

We've been practicing a lot with worksheets and measuring things in the classroom….

BUT what better way to practice measurements than getting outside and having some fun?! 

I invited some 6th graders to come in and teach my class how to make paper airplanes. The kids were so excited and it was also a great way for them to practice their listening skills! 

We then headed out to fly our planes and measure the distance that it traveled! 

                

  

If you'd like to try these activities out with your students, you can click on the image below :)

Be sure to follow me on Instagram or Facebook for more fun updates ;)

Also got to take some time out for some fun this week! We got to meet up with some friends from Washington. They're visiting Hawaii so we met them for some Happy Hour :)  She is a second grade teacher…our classes were pen pals last year!

We're also continuing to work on poetry and figurative language. This is always a tough one but fun at the same time. So far, we've covered simile and metaphors, alliteration, idioms, and onomatopoeias.

I'm kicking myself right now because as I'm scrolling through my photos I realized I only took pictures of our alliteration pages!

Landan the Lizard lights a leaf
Marry the monkey makes a monster with a magical science kit

Emmeline the elephant loves to eat eggplants everyday.

Ayven the alligator loves to eat apples any day he sees one.

Jayde the jaguar got a job at the jungle's Jamba Juice.

Pretty Pam made chicken pot pie with pickles and peas. 

We're also did a science experiment today. The kids were so excited learning about the scientific method.

Thats my week in a nutshell! Hope you enjoy your weekend :) I'm off to finish some work I had started throughout the week…and hopefully get a new Facebook Fan Freebie posted for you all sometime this weekend ;) 

3NBT3 Multiplication Freebie for Teaching in Paradise Facebook Fans!

I decided to whip up this freebie early this morning while planning what I will do as a 'time filler' in case my students were done early with testing. 

3NBT3-Multiplying by multiples of 10 was a skill that we covered right before Christmas Break. You never quite know how much actually sticks with them in those last few days before break...so I wanted to give them a fun little activity to review this skill.

I came up with this-which I whipped up in about 10 minutes.

 I didn't realize how stinking adorable it'd turn out once it was all colored in and complete.  Once I saw the finished product, I just knew I had to have more of these (great practice of this skill) and I knew I had to whip up more for my wonderful followers!!

SO-if you'd like to pick up a few of these cute practice sheets head to my Facebook Fan Page, {Make sure you 'Like' the page} and click the tab for "Facebook Fan Freebies". Click the image and it will let you download the product from Google Docs.

*I'm in the process of making more pages-so be sure to check back (I'll make a note of it on my Facebook Page for followers)..but until then-you can pick this one up today! 

If you aren't 'Liking' the page, it will just show a picture and you will not be able to get to the direct download link. 

Hope you have a great rest of the week!

Courtney

Deck the Halls With TPT!

Happy December! I am so excited that it is officially December. Christmas is definitely my favorite time of the year :) To start off the holiday festivities- I'm linking up with Christina from Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge for a super fun TPT Sale Linky Party. Head on over to her blog to check out some amazing sellers and their holiday products! 

Here's the playlist going on for Deck the Halls with TPT! 

I'll be sharing three songs with ya. 

The first is A Seasonal Favorite-The 12 Days of Common Core!

Featuring my December Morning Math pack. I have these packs available for each month of the school year. Each month highlights different skills and focuses on word problems. This is a quick review of skills taught so my students have constant reinforcement of previous skills throughout the year. 

Next up is Walking in a Math Wonderland!

Here are my holiday themed multiplication and division task cards. These task cards are used to reinforce 3.OA.3. I love using task cards in my class. We sometimes use these in math centers, whole class reviews, scavenger hunts, or SCOOT. 

How do you use task cards in your classroom? 

And Last but not least-I'm Dreaming of a Holiday Product!

With these fun Holiday themed Multiplication and Division Memory Cards. I used to love to play this game as a child with a plain deck of cards. Now your students can build their fact fluency with this fun game! 

You can score all of these products in my TPT Store. I'm also running a 20% off Sale from Today-Tuesday. Don't forget to use the code CYBER for an extra 10% off at checkout! 

I can't wait for this amazing sale! My wish list keeps growing each day-so it's about time I load up that shopping cart.

What's on your wish list? 

Happy Shopping!