Description

What our Decimals lesson plan includes

Lesson Objectives and Overview: Decimals prepares students to identify decimals, name place value of decimals to thousandths, compare decimals, add and subtract decimals. At the end of the lesson, students will be able to identify decimals, name place value of decimals to thousandths, compare decimals, add and subtract decimals. This lesson is for students in 4th grade, 5th grade, and 6th grade.

Classroom Procedure

Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the blue box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand.

Options for Lesson

Included with this lesson is an “Options for Lesson” section that lists a number of suggestions for activities to add to the lesson or substitutions for the ones already in the lesson. To add to this lesson, you can use additional resources for games, videos, or additional worksheets. If you want to adjust the lesson, you can give the Practice page for homework. You could also have your students read the content page on their own, teaching the concepts without using the content page. If your students have learned about percentages, you can compare decimals with percentages. You could also use the practice page during the content page review. Finally, depending on the grade level, you can use manipulatives to illustrate decimals.

Teacher Notes

The teacher notes page includes a paragraph with additional guidelines and things to think about as you begin to plan your lesson. This page also includes lines that you can use to add your own notes as you’re preparing for this lesson.

DECIMALS LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES

Decimals

The Decimals lesson plan includes three content pages. Decimals relate to tenths or multiples of tens, like hundredths or thousandths. Decimals, like fractions and percents, are a part of a whole. We use decimal points to separate whole numbers from the decimal, which is the fractional part of the number. We can read decimals as tenths, hundredths, thousandths, or even smaller fractional parts!

The lesson includes some images to help students visualize these parts and their values. One-tenth is the same as 0.1 is the same as 1/10. Visually, we can represent this as a grid of 100 squares with 10 filled in. Next, one-hundredth is the same as 0.01 is the same as 1/100. Visually, we can represent this as a grid of 100 squares with 1 filled in. Finally, one-thousandth is the same as 0.001 is the same as 1/1000.  Visually, we can represent this as a grid of 1,000 squares with 1 filled in.

When looking at a number with a decimal, the number on the left side of the decimal point is the ones place. The first number to the right of the decimal point is the tenths place, the second number is the hundredths place, and the third number is the thousandths place.

Decimals contain numbers other than 0 and 1! For example, the number 1.2 is a decimal with a whole number. We read this number as one and two-tenths or one point two. We read the number 25.17 as twenty-five and seventeen-hundredths or twenty-five point one seven. Finally, we read the number 3.215 as three and two-hundred fifteen thousandths or three point two one five.

There are a few important things to remember about decimals. First, any zeroes that come before the decimal place in the ones place are not always shown. For example, 0.5 is the same as .5.

Next, we sometimes use extra zeros at the end of decimals as placeholders. We don’t need these zeros, but they can help us keep track of place value while adding or subtracting. For example, 0.5 = 0.50 = 0.500. When working with money, we can write whole dollars with or without the zeros. For example, we could write $25 or $25.00 and they mean the same thing. Sometimes, extra zeros are helpful when trying to determine which of two decimals are larger or smaller.

It’s not difficult to compare decimals—it’s just like comparing whole numbers. You need to pay attention to place value. We use the same symbols (<, >, and =) to compare. Remember that with the greater than and less than symbols, the arrow always points at the smaller number.

Adding and Subtracting Decimals

Adding and subtracting decimals is as easy as adding and subtracting whole numbers. You just have to remember to line the decimal points up and be neat when writing the numbers so you don’t get confused! Once you have everything lined up, all you need to do is add or subtract as usual, bringing the decimal down as you go.

The lesson shows four examples of how to properly line up decimal addition and subtraction problems. Sometimes, you’ll need to use zeros as placeholders to line everything up properly.

One of the most common places you’ll see decimal points are with money. Different stores, restaurants, banks, and other businesses use decimal points in their prices and in other places every day.

To recap, decimal numbers include a decimal point that separates the whole number from the parts of a whole. We use decimals to show tenths, hundredths, thousandths, and even smaller numbers. We can read decimal numbers in a few different ways. It is always imperative to line up the decimal points when adding or subtracting. To compare decimals, make sure you compare the place value of each digit. Finally, as with all math concepts, it’s important to practice working with decimals! The more you practice, the better you’ll get.

DECIMALS LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS

The Decimals lesson plan includes two worksheets: a practice worksheet and a homework assignment. You can refer to the guide on the classroom procedure page to determine when to hand out each worksheet.

SOLVING PROBLEMS PRACTICE WORKSHEET

The practice worksheet asks students to complete a few short exercises. First, they will write the word form of different numbers with decimals. Next, they will use <, >, or = to compare decimals. Then, they will rewrite problems, ensuring that they line the decimals up. Finally, they will solve a few word problems that require them to use decimals.

DECIMALS HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

Like the practice worksheet, for the homework assignment, students will complete a few different exercises. First, they will write the word form of different numbers with decimals. Next, they will use <, >, or = to compare decimals. Then, they will find the sum or difference for problems that include decimals. Finally, they will rewrite problems, ensuring that they line the decimals up.

Worksheet Answer Keys

This lesson plan includes answer keys for the practice worksheet and the homework assignment. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.