Division Strategies

Materials: Flashcards or index cards with division facts written on them but no answers

Matches or pairs are made by matching quotients. (16 ÷ 4 and 8 ÷ 2 are a match) Players ask another for a quotient that would make a match with a card in his or her hand. Thus if the player has 12 ÷ 3 in his hand, he would ask another player for a 4.  If that player has 24 ÷ 6 or any other card equaling 4, a match has been made, or “go fish”.
 

Materials: division flashcards/index cards with division facts written w/o answers 

Place cards face down on a table or the floor. On each player’s turn, he or she turns over two cards and determines the quotient on each. If the quotients are equal, the player has made a match and keeps the cards. (Thus, 24 ÷ 8 and 6 ÷ 2  can be a match.) If the quotients are not equal, the two cards are turned back over and left in their place. The game ends when all matches are made. The winner is the player with the most matches.
 

Materials: 48 cards with one of the following written:

Lay cards face down. Each player draws seven cards, hiding cards from the other players. The remaining cards are removed except for one which remains face down. The first player chooses one he does not want and places it face down in front of the player to his left, and then picks up the extra card left on the table.  Play rotates clockwise. Each player passes an unwanted card face down to the player on his/her left and then picks up the one given by the player on the right. The objective is to get seven cards with the same quotient. The game continues with players always placing one card on the table before picking up the next one.  

Materials: Cards: 1, 3, 5, 7, 7, 9. Cards: 1, 2, 4, 6, 6, 8.  List on lined paper 10-81.

Players take turns, rotating clockwise. To start, a player crosses out any unused number on the numbered list. All players use the same numbered list. He or she then choose one of the two sets of index cards and chooses one.  Next, the player divides the number on the index card into the number he or she just crossed out and finds the remainder. The remainder for the division problem is the player’s score for that round. Players keep a cumulative sum of their scores from round to round.A player who notices another player make a mistake acquires that player’s score for the turn.The game ends when all of the numbers on the list have been crossed out.  The player with the largest cumulative score at the end of the game wins. **To shorten: use numbers between 20 and 60.
 

First, select a divisor (the amount of groups you will break your whole into). This will be the number that you place in the center of your flower. 

Next, use your multiplication facts to help you! You will notice above how the divisor is 7 and the student began multiplying by 1, 2, 3 and so on to create products on top of the flower petals.  Under the product petal, place a quotient petal with the answer (quotient) for that dividend. In division, your “product” or “whole” is called the dividend. For the 7 flower, you’ll notice that under the 35 petal is the number 5. Under the petal for 21 would be the number 3 since 21  7 = 3. 

Now you have created a fact family and are ready to practice dividing! You can practice lifting the petals to see if you know the quotient (answer) to the division problem. 

Here is a flower template that you can use. 
 

For those of you who enjoyed Free Range Fractions, try this activity!  Call “dibs” on the next egg carton your parents are about to recycle.  Next, go outside and collect some small rocks or pebbles.  Multiples of 12 would work best here (12, 24, 36, 48…).  Now, grab a deck of cards and take out the 2s, 3s, 4s, and 6,s.  These will be the only cards you need to play.

Place the cards face down, select a card, and divide your pebbles into that many groups. If your total number of pebbles is 24 and you selected the card for the number 4, divide the pebbles into 4 of the spaces in the egg carton. How many pebbles are in each of the 4 spaces?  Stop and jot the equation that matches! In the case of the example, you would write 24 4 = 6.  Keep going and change the amount of pebbles once the equations start to repeat.
 

First, wash your hands.  Then, grab a handful of your favorite cereal.  Count the total amount.  Next, roll the dice.  The number on the dice will tell you how many groups to divide your cereal into.  Write the equation you created. Thus if you have 27 pieces of cereal and you roll a 4, your equation would be 27 4= 6 R3.  If there are any remainders (leftovers), eat them! Now take the remaining 24 pieces, roll the dice again and start all over. Keep going until you finish your cereal or take a new amount of cereal each time creating different problems. Afterwards, pour your total amount of cereal into a bowl with some milk and enjoy!

Get out a deck of cards and divide the cards as if you are playing multiplication war.  Select 2 cards and multiply them for a product. If you turn over 6 and 4, your product is 24.  Remix! Your product has now become your Dividend. So now 24 would become your dividend. Quickly flip over one of the cards you used to multiply and create a division equation with your dividend (product) divided by the remaining card. If I turn over the 6, my equation becomes 24  4 = ?. What is the quotient or missing number?  Flip your card to check your thinking.  If you get the quotient correct, keep your cards.  If you get it wrong, give your cards to your opponent.  Whoever had the most cards after 10 minutes wins!
 

Recent research in the area of the brain shows that we learn math best when we can attach multiple meanings to it especially as visual representations. Try folding a paper in fourths and then fold down the corner of the middle. Open it up and represent a math fact in 4 ways. Begin by writing the fact you want to work on in the middle. Then, represent the problem 4 ways by creating a visual solution of the problem, a different visual solution, writing a story problem and solving the problem numerically.