Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Dividing Decimals Lesson Plan

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Dividing Decimals, and supports the standard of adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing decimals to hundredths. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Display a receipt, or this image from the movie (timestamp 1:03):

Ask students:

  • How might you split a bill like this among several people?

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

  • Read the description on the Dividing Decimals topic page.
  • Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
  • Assign Related Reading. Have students read one of the following articles: “Real Life”, “Did You Know?”, or “Plus/Minus”. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS

Assign Dividing Decimals Challenge and Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about dividing decimals while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

  • Make-a-Movie: Produce a tutorial explaining how four friends can evenly divide the cost of a pizza that totals $15.64.
  • Make-a-Map: Create a concept map sequencing the steps to divide a number with a decimal. 
  • Creative Coding: Code a math problem that involves dividing a number with decimals. Challenge a classmate to solve.

More to Explore

Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of conventions of standard English with these topics: Converting Fractions to Decimals, Division, Decimals, and Multiplying Decimals.

Teacher Support Resources:

 

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments