Week 4 of 8
Week 4
5th Grade → 6th Grade · Decimals operations and Compare contrast texts
Math
Decimal Operations
Adding, subtracting and multiplying numbers with decimals. Fifth grade.
The mistake to watch for. Lining up the last digits instead of the decimal points, so tenths get added to hundredths.
How to help. Write the numbers in a column with the points exactly under each other, and use zeros as placeholders (2.7 becomes 2.70).
A worked example
Try 3.45 + 2.7. Line up the decimal points and write 2.7 as 2.70: 3.45 + 2.70 = 6.15. For 3.2 × 4: 32 × 4 = 128, and one decimal place goes back in, so the answer is 12.8.
Words for this week
- decimal
- A number written with a point to show parts smaller than one, like 0.5.
- tenths
- The first place after the decimal point. 0.3 means 3 tenths.
- hundredths
- The second place after the decimal point. 0.07 means 7 hundredths.
- place
- Where a digit sits in a number: ones, tens or hundreds.
- estimate
- To find an answer that is close, without doing the exact work.
Read this week
Pterosaurs
A short dinosaurs & fossils article from our Learn library, chosen for this reading level. Read it together, then ask your child to tell you one new thing they learned.