From: Judy 
To: Teacher2Teacher Public Discussion
Date: 2000101214:57:40
Subject: Re: Rounding numbers-Estimation

I've found that my students that have trouble with rounding respond
well to what I call Rounding Mountain. Basically, I draw a mountain
and number it.  0-4 are going up the mountain, 5 is on top leaning
forward just a bit and 6-9 are going down the other side of the
mountain.  When a child needs to round a number they look at what they
are rounding.  Let's say that they are rounding 46 to the nearest ten.
When they look at the mountain, they see that the easiest route for
that number is to go forward or round up to 50.  The number can be
adjusted depending on the value being rounded, tens, hundreds,
thousands, etc.  Rounding mountain provides a visual picture that they
can use.  With repeated use, students soon learn to round without the
dependence on the mountain.  There are many other ways, but I've found
that this generally works with most of my students.  Good luck.


 -Judy, for the Teacher2Teacher service

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