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Decimals
Objectives
To demonstrate an ability to order decimals and to understand a number’s size by the position of digits after the decimal point.
Resources
Abacus 4 Textbook 3 | Squared paper
Today's Lesson
Main Activity
To warm up, call out random multiplication questions.
Turn to page 45 in Abacus 4 Textbook 3.
Look at the questions on the page. They are set out as both fractions and ‘m’ or ‘cm’. First you should convert the fraction into a decimal (as the speech bubble suggests) and then you should convert them both into m. This will make it easy to work out the answers. For example Q1:
Step 1: 2½ m = 2.5 m
Step 2: 30cm = 0.3m (Divide 30 by 100 by moving all digits 2 places to the right.)
Step 3: 2.5 m – 0.3 m = 2.2 m or 2m20cm
Teach your child the numbers 25, 50, 75, 100 as being the quarter numbers of 100.
That is, 1/4 of 100 = 25; 2/4 of 100 = 50; 3/4 of 100 = 75.
Fraction/ decimal equivalences that your student should memorise as they will need them regularly throughout their future learning in maths:
\frac{1}{2} = 0.5 \frac{1}{4}=0.25 \frac{3}{4} = 0.75
Discuss each question and encourage your student to explain how to work each one out. Then, ask your student to complete the calculations, writing them out with the unit of measure and ending with a sentence answer, as with all word problems.
This video will talk you through how to convert fractions to decimals to help you work through the questions. It works through Questions 1 and 2 in particular.