Teaching division might not be as hard as you think. In fact, it could be as easy as the other basic mathematical operations. Read ahead for activities you could show to help teach division.
First, explain what division is.” Division is simply dividing a number”.” Division is making the numbers smaller”. “Division is the opposite of multiplication”. I have to tell you. These definitions might intimidate the kids, but always ALWAYS explain this with an example.
Explain the parts of the division. It has a divisor, a dividend, and a quotient. The dividend is the number being divided. The divisor is the number that will divide the dividend into portions. Lastly, the quotient is the result of the dividend being divided by the divisor.
Provide an example. If you are going to give two kids four tubs of cookies, the dividend would be the four tubs of cookies since it is what’s being divided. The divisor would be two since two kids would each receive a portion.
Lastly, the quotient would be two since four tubs divided by two, is two. So each kid should get two tubs.
Pizza Sharing
Say bring a pizza to the table and ask your child how many people there are in the house. Let’s say that there are six people in the house, and each should be given one slice. Explain to your child that division is dividing one pizza by six people.
Explain that each person in the house would get one-sixth of the pizza. It means one pizza is being divided by six. Six is the divisor, one is the dividend, and one-sixth is the quotient. It is acceptable to have a fraction for simplicity.
For an additional challenge, ask how many slices the pizza should be divided into if each member would be given two slices instead.
Mixture of Candies
Give your child a bag of mixed candies. Let your child count the total number of candies. Determine how you would want the candies to be grouped.
For example, grouping the candies according to their type- chocolates, hard candies, and gummies. From there, explain that the total number of candies would be your dividend.
Once your child has grouped them according to type, help him or her establish that the type of candy is your divisor. In this case, the divisor is three since the candies were divided by three.
Other examples of groupings you could have would be according to candy color, brand, and days in a week. The last one would be fun since your child could know how much candy he or she could eat in a day.
It would also be exciting if you add a little challenge of asking how much candy your child is allowed to have per day if the candies should last for a month.
Once determined how much could be eaten in a day for a month, ask how much candy was given up if it was only divided for a week’s consumption.
Reading Books
Challenge your child to read more books! Give a reward for every book finished. It would be great to teach your kids division as well as early planning in order to achieve his or her goals. Ask your child how many books he or she plans to read in a week.
Since there are seven days in a week, ask him to divide the number of books by seven. From this, ask to determine if seven is the divisor or the dividend. Explain that the quotient meant the number of books he should read per day.
What you could also do to assist your child is to ask how many pages there are in his or her chosen book. Ask him to divide this number by seven and explain that the quotient meant the number of pages he or she should read per day.
It is important to remind your child to be realistic in goal setting as early as now. Ask questions that involve time management and habit building like “Would you want to read after chores or before going to bed?” In this way, they would still enjoy it.
Takeaway
Teaching division is very easy when you accompany it with examples that will pique their interest. Including food like candies as examples will surely help them understand this topic easily.
Hi, my name is Elena Jones, and my full-time job is a teacher. Through teaching, I have discovered that children learn in many different ways, and have seen the positive impact both STEM and Montessori toys have on children.
Through this site I hope to educate parents and adults about these toys, providing them with useful information on how they can be used, and provide some in depth reviews of different toys to consider too.
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