I have a bit of a love-hate relationship when it comes to teaching students the shift patterns of multiplying and dividing by powers of ten. It’s one of those underestimated concepts that you think will be so easy for them to learn. You soon realize that it’s not as simple to teach as you previously thought.
This pretty much sums up my early experiences after a lesson on multiplying and dividing by powers of ten:
1. Take it slow: There is no need to rush students through this concept. Spend at least two days working on whole powers of ten (10; 100; 1,000) before introducing decimal powers of ten (0.1, 0.01, 0.001– Speaking of decimal powers of ten, expect some confusion and reteaching when this is introduced) This is really a worthwhile concept for students to fully understand, so you can justify spending more time on it.
These are a great way for your students to “play around” with shifting patterns. Just print “frame” and the strips (legal size) and you’re ready to go. Students can do the cutting on their own; they may need to fold the frame in half to cut the slits. Enter your email address below, and I’ll send you the slider for FREE.
Would love to hear more ideas and “tricks” for teaching powers of ten! Please comment below if you have anything to add:-) Provide your students with more powers of ten practice with my 5th Grade 5-A-Day Review.