Hands-on Division Practice with Free Sorting Activity
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Singing! Skip-Counting! Games! We’ve been doing it all year, and now it is time to put it into practice. We are jumping into a short multiplication review, and then a long, focused study on division.
All that prep work to make sure my little guy knows his facts has all been in preparation for this unit. And I can’t wait to get started with some fun activities.
This free pirate sort is just one of the many fun activities we will be doing!
Prep-Work
- Print the hands-on division activity on card stock paper (You can laminate them for extra durability.)
- Cut out pirate mats, coins, and problems
- Sort into division problems that have remainders and those that don’t
Hands-On Divison Practice (Problems without Remainders)
Day One:
Beginning a math lesson with a book is an excellent way to engage your children and get them ready to do a little math. Before you begin the division lesson, I highly suggest starting with the book The Doorbell Rang. It is a short, fun book that has children sharing cookies with their friends. It is a perfect way to get your kiddos excited about sharing gold coins with pirates.
After reading, pull out the pirate mats, cut out coins, and some of the problems. Begin by showing your young ones a division problem, and talking about its parts.
For example, you may say:
- This number is the dividend. It is the number being divided up. It tells us how many gold coins we need to gather to complete the problem.
- This number is the divisor. It tells us how many equal groups we are going to put the coins into. When we look at this number, we will know how many pirate mats we need to get out.
Now comes the fun part, the hands-on division practice! Give your children the mats, coins, and problems and let them give it a try. Encourage them to use the vocabulary as they sort.
Day Two:
On day two it is time to introduce remainders. Grab the book “A Remainder of One” and read this delightful story with your little ones. As you read, see if they can figure out the dividend and the divisor. And of course, begin introducing the word remainder.
Now jump into the problems with remainders. Each time your kids figure out how many do not fit into equal groups have them tell you that they have a remainder of ____!
hands-on division activity (1683 downloads )After day two, it is time to expand on division and give them some more opportunities to explore. You could try these fun division problems, or teach them how to model division with arrays. The options are endless.
Enjoy this time of exploring and expanding your child’s thinking!
Download your free hands-on division activity printable.
What are some of your favorite ways to help your children learn and practice new concepts?
Rachel is a homeschool mom to four little ones, ages 2 to 6. She is a former public school elementary teacher, and has recently begun blogging at You’ve Got This. You can also find her on Facebook and Pinterest.
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This article was written by a Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers guest author. See the author's full bio in the body of the post.
These are great, but to save paper I’m going to nab some pirate coins, which they can use for a lot of other counting and grouping, with less mess. Thank you so much