Long Division- post 3 out of 5

Long division is the last stage in division, and it is important that your child masters it. This blog has everything you need to help your child succeed! 

I see you've made it back! Hope that you completed the two previous blogs on long division. 

Now that your child has mastered the first two steps, let's move on to step three....

Step Three 

Your child should have already mastered the concept of division. 

Now that you are introducing long division you want to do so in the simplest manner, as you don't want to overwhelm the child. This should be done using 1 digit divisor and a 1 digit dividend. DO NOT INCLUDE NUMBERS WITH ZEROS OR NUMBERS THAT WOULD HAVE REMAINDERS!! 

DON'T

• Don't use problems such as 8 ➗ 56=  or 9  ➗ 45= 

Even though the numbers 8 divides into 56 without a remainder this is still a difficult problem for a child that is now learning long division. Always remember you do not want to complicate things in the beginning. Your main focus at this point is the teach the child the process, and the best and most effective way is to present it in the simplest form. Do not worry you will get to increase the complexity over time and provide a challenge to the child, however let's focus on process and concepts first. Hence, we said one digit numbers divided by an one digit number.

• Do not use zeros in your problems yet!

For the same reasons as mentioned above, we don't want to complicate things. The use of zeros in problems is another skill in long division that would be taught later on. Fret not! Your blogger is here to save the day and ensure you don't make any mistakes in teaching that would affect your child's learning. 

Now that the don'ts are out of the way lets move on!!! 

Let's introduce long division in the simplest form. 

First let's show the way in which a long division problem is represented. 

                Example:     2⟌4

Using this same example let's continue. 

Have the child recall the steps in the correct order, for solving long division problems.

That is:

1. Divide 

2. Multiply

3. Subtract

4. Compare

5. Bring Down 

Remember to  recall each step as you perform it! You can ask the child to state the next step. 

• So first we divide and say 4 divided by two is?  Be sure to point the numbers in the order that you read it to the child. The child should know their division tables. So you should write the four in the space above. 

                          2   ←←notice where the quotient is placed 

Example:  2 ⟌4

What's the next step? Multiply! 

What are we multiplying? 

See that number two that i wrote above the long division sign? That's what you will multiply!

You now multiply that number (quotient) by the divisor 2. 

                           2    

Example:  2 ⟌4

                4 ←←  notice where this product of the quotient and the divisor is placed. 

Ask the child- What's the next step? Subtract  

What are we subtracting ? 

We now subtract the 4 from the dividend 4! 

     

                          2    

Example:  2 ⟌4

            - 4 

             ⎯⎯⎯

              0     notice the subtraction symbol is written and the line drawn with the difference written under. 

So, what's the next step? Compare 

What are we comparing? 

You compare by checking to make sure that nothing else can be further divided. 

Ask yourself  can  0 be divided into 2

Check to make sure your numbers are accurate. 

What's the next step? Bring down! 

What are we bringing down? 

There is now further number to bring down as we divided one digit by one digit.... in future problems we will see the way in which the bring down step occurs in long division. 

  

Remember practise makes perfect, so have your child practise dome more long division problems 

involving 1 digit by 1 digit numbers. Be sure to have the child repeat the steps! Repetition is key!!