Page 17 - THE MATHMATE November 2024

Dividing decimals with manipulatives

Elsa Roberts-Oglesby

In the world of 5th grade decimals are king! In my
district, Lexington-Richland 5, our first 6 units
revolve around decimals. From Place Value to
Dividing Decimals and everything in between. We
know as educators that anytime that we can place
manipulatives in the hands of our students we can
create a richer lesson, in a lot of cases we see light
bulbs go off. As a Kagan school we use a lot of
hands-on opportunities and cooperative learning
opportunities in our classroom. Last week we did
a Kagan Lesson called "Build It". Students were
given Base 10 Blocks and a Place Value Mat.
Groups are given a decimal to model using the
Base 10 Blocks. (Activity is attached) Students About the Author

would use the Base 10 Blocks to represent the Mrs. Roberts-Oglesby teaches 5 grade at
th
assigned decimal. This really helped students see Leaphart Elementary in Lexington-Richland Five.
the numbers in their Place Value and determine This is her tenth year teaching and she is proud to
the value of the digit. This will also help with lining be part of the district she grew up in. She holds a
up decimals which will help with comparing, BA in Education from the University of South
adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing Carolina and two Master’s degrees from Southern
decimals.
Wesleyan University.

Scctm The MathMate 17 Volume 44/Number 1 October 2024