Q&A #1733

Teachers' Lounge Discussion: Long division


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From: Maxine Gaul <maxinegaul@hotmail.com>
To: Teacher2Teacher Public Discussion
Date: 2007062313:32:23
Subject: Steps in long division

After teaching the initial steps in long division I tell my students a
story about a family who does a long division problem.  These
characters also helps the students to remember the steps.
Dad, Mom, Sister, Brother, Rover

Dad divides the dividend by the divisor

     3) 462
Dad would say how many times 3 goes into 4, and he always puts his
number on top the line.

Mom multiplies the number Dad put up by the divisor and puts her
number below the number Dad went into.
     3)  462

Sister subtracts the number that Mom put put down from the dividend
       3) 462

Brother brings down the next number in the dividend by the difference
that sister put down
        3) 462

Rover decides if the number at the bottom is the remainder or if the
family has to restart.  In this case they would have to restart with
Dad saying how many times 3 goes into 16. 

The family would keep going until the number at the bottom is less
than the divisor and Rover would say that the number is the remainder.

I find this helps the students remember the steps because each family
has their job and that never changes.

Dad - Divides
Mom - Multiplies
Sister - Subtracts
Brother - Brings down
Rover - Restarts or Remainder

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