If you’re teaching your own child, you can introduce division by having them help you divide items into goody bags or separate baked goods into sandwich bags to hand out to friends. In a classroom setting, students can work in groups to divide a number of items, such as candies or plastic bears, evenly among themselves. Most students begin to learn division in the 3rd grade or around the age of 8 or 9. [2] X Research source
Manipulatives are any small item that represents the numerical amounts in math problems, such as beans or plastic coins. Your student or child can physically see and touch the items, which helps them better understand the mathematical concepts.
Try writing a division problem down while saying it out loud to reiterate when the symbols should be used. For example, 10 divided by 5 can be written like this: 10/5 or 10÷5. 8 divided by 2 can be written like this: 8/2 or 8÷2.
For example, go through the 5 times tables, starting at 5 x 10 = 50. Show your student or child that 50/10 = 5. Then go to 5 x 9 = 45, and explain that 45/9 = 5. Continue until you complete the times table. Or, write out the problems on flash cards with the multiplication problem on the front and the division problem on the back. Show your student or child that 2 x 10 = 20 and have them guess the corresponding division problem (20/10 = 2). You can compare the relationship of multiplication and division to addition and subtraction—they’re both opposites. [7] X Expert Source David JiaAcademic Tutor Expert Interview. 7 January 2021.
You can work backwards from multiplication tables. For example, when dividing by 3, the math problems would include 3/3, 6/3, 9/3, 12/3, 15/3, etc. At this point, make sure the numbers divide evenly.
If you’re making your own worksheets, you might make a worksheet about dividing pizza for a party. The context is that the student must divide certain numbers of pizza slices per varying numbers of guests, but the math problems will contain just numbers, such as 12/3, 12/4, 24/8, etc.
For example, you might say that your student or child has 10 cookies to share with 3 friends. This would allow them to give 3 cookies to each friend, leaving 1 extra cookie. This cookie is the remainder.
For example, you could ask them to divide 25 candies into various groups. While 5 groups would divide evenly, 4 groups wouldn’t. This would leave 1 extra candy, since 4 doesn’t go into 25 evenly.
Ask, “Why do you have 1 candy left?” Help them arrive at the answer, which is that 4 doesn’t go into 25 evenly. You could say, “How many cookies would 4 each friends get if the package had 25?” or “Would 4 people be able to split 25 cookies evenly?” Finally, explain that 1 is the remainder. If they still cannot explain it without help, switch to a new problem and continue to work through the exercise until they are able to explain remainders without your help.
If you make your own worksheets, focus primarily on numerical problems. However, you can also include a few word problems at the bottom. You might start by providing them with the same problems they’ve already worked through with their manipulatives. This allows them to see how their real world experience with the items relates to written math problems.
For example, 63/3=21. The 3 will go into the 6 evenly, then the 3 will go into the 3 evenly. There are no remainders on either step. Most kids will begin learning long division in 3rd grade, or around the age of 8 or 9. [15] X Research source
For example, you’d divide the 100s unit, then the 10s unit, and finally the 1s unit. Let’s say your problem is 54/3. Your divisor is 3, which goes into 5 just 1 time. However, you are left with a remainder of 2, which you will need to save for the next step. Similarly, let’s say your problem is 155/4. You can’t divide 4 into 1, so you’d divide it into 15. This would give you 3, with a remainder of 3.
As you work though 54/3, you know that 3 goes into 5 just 1 time with a remainder of 2. You’d multiply 3 x 1 = 3. Subtract 3 from 5 to get 2. Leave the 2 in the 10s spot. Similarly, for 155/4, you know that 4 goes into 15 just 3 times. You’d multiply 4 x 3 = 12. Subtract 15-12= 3. Carry the 3 down in the 10s spot.
Working through 54/3, you will carry the 4 down, writing it next to the 2, which gives you 24. You’ll next divide 3 into 24. This gives you 8. Putting it all together, your answer is 54/3=18. Similarly, as you work through 155/4, you’d now have a 3 left in your 10s spot. Carry down the 5, to give you 35. Divide the 4 into 35, which will give you a result of 8, with 3 remaining.
Since 3 goes into 54 evenly, you don’t have a remainder. However, 55/3 would give you a remainder of 1. You would find this remainder like this: If you divide 3 into 5, you get 1, with 2 remaining. You’d then divide 3 into 25, which would give you 8, with 1 remaining. This is your remainder.
For example, you’d write 55/3=18 R 1 or 55/3=18 Remainder 1.
You could provide your student or child with real world scenarios to help them practice long division. For example, they could practice dividing large quantities of food among party guests. Similarly, you could have them divide their birthday money into 3 categories: spend now, save for later, save for college.
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Ask them to divide the food equally. Have them divide the food for various groups, such as 2, 4, 5, or 10 friends. Make a recipe with the student but ask them to do the math to reduce the number of servings. Remember—students learn in lots of different ways![24] X Expert Source David JiaAcademic Tutor Expert Interview. 7 January 2021. Some kids might find a hands-on approach helpful.
For example, ask them to divide all stuffed bears into groups of 3, with remainders set aside. Similarly, all red Legos can be divided into groups of 5, with remainders set aside.
