Division

As you may know, Chapter 6 has immersed third grade mathematicians in the world of patterns. Today we stepped out of this world briefly to review the concept of division. (Tomorrow we'll jump back into patterns by looking at "machines" that split things into equal groups.)

I don't yet expect that children have memorized their division facts. However, it is important that they understand the concept of division. When mathematicians divide, they are splitting a larger number into  groups of equal size. For example, if I have 24 pieces of candy. I can divide them into 3 equal groups (to share with friends) and there will be 8 pieces of candy in each group.

Part of understanding the concept of division, is understanding its relationship to multiplication. Division is the opposite of multiplication similar to subtraction being the opposite of addition. We can write fact families with multiplication and division. (See below.)

Some children came to class very comfortable with the concept of division. They took a challenge that you might enjoy sharing at home. They had a variety of numbers from which to choose. Their challenge was to find relationships between the numbers using multiplication and division. For example, the numbers might be:

2
25
100
30
1000
4
40
5

The children would choose numbers from the collection that they could use to make a multiplication or division sentence - 25 x 4 = 100.

Try it at home with your third grade mathematician! :o)