Resourceful Rounding in Year 4!

We have had such a brilliant first half-term back at school. The children have surpassed all expectations and have settled in so well after such a long time off school. They have been particularly impressive in their maths lessons and have studied number and place value in quite some depth, so that they have a strong foundation for the rest of the year.

In the final week, the children have been exploring how to round 4-digit numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. We started by using concrete resources (dienes and place value counters) to support the children's understanding.

"I can see that 42 is closer to 40 than it is to 50 because you only need to take 2 ones away to make 40, but you would need to add 8 ones to get to 50.That means it must round down to 40." Annabelle, Larch

Some children also used place value counters to support their learning, as it helped them visualise why we round down or up - something that is quite tricky to grasp at first!

I'm sure the children would love to show you how they have been rounding at home. They have all been following their 3 steps to success.

For example: 

Round 5238 to the nearest 10:

1. Label the columns to show the value of each digit.

2.  As we are rounding to the nearest 10, underline the 10s column and show the multiples of 10 either side of that number. 

3. Finally, you look to the column on the right of the one you're rounding to. In this case, it is the ones. Circle the ones and use the rhyme to help you decide if you round up or down.

"1-4 stay on the floor, 5-9 climb the vine"

In this example, we have 8 ones so we are going to climb the vine and round up to 5240.

The rules are the same, whether you are rounding to the nearest 10, 100 or 1000. You just have to make sure that you underline and circle the correct columns and you think carefully about those multiples!

Here are a few for the children to practise with you at home:

Any children who bring in their answers after half-term, will receive a merit for their hard work and a wonderfully scented sticker!

We hope you have an amazing break!

From the Year 4 team :)