Description

What is the Rounding Place?

Group: Alone
Materials: What is the Rounding Place sheet

Begin by having students round the numbers to the places of the underlined digits:

6,453   72,761   159,258
6,000   70,000   159,000

Ask: What places have the numbers been rounded to?
hundred   ten thousand   thousand

Write both pairs of numbers below on the board.
Ask: How can you tell the places the numbers have been rounded to?

84,729   348,256   9,123,056
84,730   350,000   9,100,000

Give students practice on identifying the rounding places of numbers by writing a number on 6 index cards, one number per card. Give the cards to 6 different students. Tell them in secret the place to round their numbers. Have them write both numbers on the board, the number on the card and the rounded number they wrote. Have them ask their classmates to identify the rounding place of their numbers. Issue a What is the Rounding Place sheet to each student. For each rounded number on the sheet, students must identify the rounding place of the numbers.

Instructional Tip: Highlight the importance of place value understanding. As students practice rounding, encourage them to explain the reasoning behind identifying the rounding place. Ask questions like, “Why did you round this number up or down?” and “How does the digit to the right of the underlined number affect rounding?” This reinforces their understanding of place value and the rules for rounding. Additionally, have students compare rounding to different places (e.g., rounding to the nearest thousand vs. hundred) to see how it changes the result, promoting a deeper understanding of how place value impacts the rounding process.

This tip helps students build confidence in rounding and strengthens their grasp of place value.