Adding and Subtracting Decimals
I absolutely love to teach decimals in fifth grade – and adding and subtracting decimals is right there at the top of my list. Maybe it’s my love of shopping or my obsession with budgeting, but this skill is one that is so useful in my own life that I can so easily relate it to my students. From math shopping centers to budgeting skills in the classroom, my students get so engaged with the activities that we complete when it comes to this skill that they completely forget that they are learning important math concepts. Here are four amazing ways that I like to bring adding and subtracting decimals into the math classroom.
Boom Cards
Boom Cards: Digital learning has become a norm in this day and age, and I’m so happy that I stumbled across Boom Learning in my quest to adapt to the times. Boom Cards are an amazing and easy way to engage students because they are fun and educational and they are also pretty darn cute! I love that they provide immediate feedback to the students AND teachers get a report about how they did at the end. They can also play again and again with a shuffled deck so when they do need a bit of reteaching, the cards still provide them with additional practice. And the best part – NO PREP for the teachers. Just click and go. Check out my decimal boom cards here!
Teach Decimals in Fifth Grade: Budgeting in the Classroom
I may have mentioned my love of shopping….ahem – Target, and my love of budgeting. And I don’t know about you, but I haven’t met a kid who doesn’t love scouring the Scholastic book club catalog and browsing at the fair. I think adding and subtracting decimals just lends itself perfectly to these real-life skills because they aren’t “boring.” Money is something that we all encounter and use every day, so when I can allow my students to use this in the classroom, I do. One way is by letting them look at other people’s pretend budgets They love thinking about who these people are and why they are buying the items that they are buying. They calculate the amount of money each person spends and then find out how much money they have left. They can also do some “shopping” themselves and compare totals with their partner or group. There are so many ways to adapt the budget lessons (and it’s been created for many seasons so that I can pull it back out for review periodically in my math centers).
Fifth Grade Decimal Games: Tic-Tac-Math
Games in the math classroom are the PERFECT way to disguise any math standard. One year, my students were obsessed with playing tic-tac-toe. It gave me an idea – what if I could adapt this much-loved game into something that I could use in the classroom (rather than just at recess and free time)? So…I did. I created tic-tac-math with skills that my fifth graders were learning and decimals are one of those skills. Check out all of the decimal tic-tac-math games here to learn more! Little did I know this would become a math center staple that my students looked forward to year after year.
Math Centers: Let’s Go Shopping and Teach Decimals!
Now, around the holidays when we teach decimals in fifth grade, my students tend to get a bit antsy. These math shopping experience centers get them up and moving, while “shopping” for seasonal items and sticking to a budget. With play money in hand they hit the stores *my classroom corners* to buy their items. This one is such a huge hit with students because it is interactive, that I created this one for multiple seasons, too! If we are past our decimal unit, I will pull it out for math centers, morning meetings, or morning work throughout the year just for a bit of fun, movement, and review.
Well…that’s it! My four favorite ways to help students master the concepts of adding and subtracting decimals. When you are reading to teach decimals in fifth grade you will have four great ideas ready to go! Check out this decimals bundle for all of the decimal resources you will need to teach these skills and more!
Have some students who are struggling? Use my “All About” booklets to help them with step-by-step guides, practice pages, and more! Read more about All About Booklets HERE.
