Fun with Decimals!

Greetings everyone!

We've been plugging along with fractions and decimals.

One of the ideas that was difficult for my students to understand is how to labels decimals on a number line.

The common core standard reads as such:
4.NF.7 Compare two decimals to hundredths by reasoning about their size. Recognize that comparisons are valid only when the two decimals refer to the same whole. Record the results of comparisons with the symbols >, =, or <, and justify the conclusions, e.g., by using a visual model.

Oh, sure.  If it were only that easy.  I tried relating it to money.  I tried relating it to whole numbers.  I got mostly blank stares.  I was surprised, because usually at least the money analogy works. 

Oh, what to do?  Well, my groups this year LOVE, LOVE, LOVE songs/raps/making hand movements, etc.

So, I said, "OK, get up! Push in your chairs!"

"Let's use our bodies!"

I explained that we were going to make our bodies into number lines.

The middle of our bodies would represent 0.5 or 0.50.

Then, to the left of us would be all of the decimals from 0.01 to 0.49 (We also talked about how if we stuck our arms out as far as possible to the left that we would have just "touched" 0.)

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Then, to the right of us would be all of the decimals from 0.51 to 0.99 (And...if we stretched out really far, we'd reach 1.0).

Seems simple.  So why did it take me this long to do this with my students?  Don't you just love "Ah ha!" moments?  I do!

So, we talked about how 0.25 would be half way between as far out as we could stretch our left hand out and the middle of our bodies. Therefore, 0.75 would be half way between how far out we could stretch out our right hand and the middle of our bodies.  This seemed to do the trick!

I'd call a decimal and they would have to quickly stretch the correct arm out the correct distance away from their bodies. 

Take a look at this "decimal".

What decimal do you think she is trying to represent?

Do you know the best part of this activity?  I could see them "doing decimals" when comparing decimals while taking their tests!

"Ah ha!"

I'd like to also share this freebie with you.  We used this flipbook in our math notebooks to help us remember the vocabulary terms related to decimals.

 Just click on the images to head to my TpT store to download them :)