Introduction:

*Strategy or techniques teaching how to Round Whole Numbers

Look at the space directly of the place that is to be rounded. If the
number to the right is 5 or more (5,6,7,8 or 9)
the the place should increase by one digit and all the numbers after
that place turn to zero. If the number to the right
is 4 or less (0, 1,2,3 or 4) then the place should remain the same
number and all numbers after that place
turn to zero.

Let me show you how that means and some examples:

Example number 1:

1,052

our directions tell us to round to the tens place

so we need to remember where our 10 tens place is.
the very last digit when we’re dealing with whole numbers
is going to be ones place

The next digits is the tens place, okay then want us to round to the
tens place
the description that I read a while ago said that you look at the
number
to the right of the place that you went around so here is where we
went around
Im going to put a little arrow on top we want to round to this place
but we look at the number
to the right of it to decide what we’re going to do
so the number to the right is 4 or less
that means 0 1 2 3 or 4
a 2 is 4 or less when the number is 4 or less this number 5
the number place where it need to be around it stays the same
but the number after it becomes a 0

so if I were to round to 1052 to the tens place

it would look like this :
one thousand fifty

Any number afterward becomes zero

the five stays the same when the number is four or less
the number you’re dealing with stays the same

A common rhyme you’ll hear in math is:

5 or more raise the score
4 or less let it rest
so two is four or less that means let it rest
that means you don’t do anything to the five
if the number is five or more you raise the score meaning,
you go up

Im going to move on to the next example

eventually you’ll see how to solve rounding both ways
when your number is five or more
or four or lesss
example number two:
35,689
our directions tell us to round to the thousandths place
okay the thousands place is here in “5”
We have five again no problem
Remember the number to the right of this place is what you
use to determine how you round
The number to the right is six
the comma means nothing
do not let the comma confuse you
the number to the right is a six so the rhyme
I just explained to you is “five” or more rase the score
six is five or more that means I need to raise the score
so this five needs to come up one digit
whenever you raise the score that means you always increase the
number by only one digit
the numbers in front always remain the same
so the three will be written again
the five increases by one digit, that means its going to be six
them im gonna write a comma and everything after becomes a zero:
3,600
So if my direction tell me to round to the thousands place
that means my number:
thirty-five thousand six hundred eighty-nine
will turn into my answer of:
36 thousand

Strategies and method:

Rounding Activities 101
First I introduce rounding using a Flocabulary song. (paid
subscription but so worth it!) This opens the discussion up
about numbers lines and how they can help and what
rounding actually is. We talk about how the number line can
help us figure out whether to round up or keep the place
we’re rounding to the same. We discuss situations where
rounding would come in handy and why we do it.
Anchor Chart
We create the anchor chart together and highlight the steps that we
use to round ANY number. We color coded the examples so they
match the step. That made it easier for the students to find which
part of the example went with each step. My struggling students are
able to access the poster as needed while those that don’t need it
work on. It’s especially helpful for my special education students as
there are a lot of steps to remember and this can

Number lines
I gave each student a laminated blank number line (get your freebie
here) and a dry erase marker. We started practicing with those. I
would write a number on the board that they needed to round. They
would write the two options for rounding at either end of their
number line. Then, they would plot their given number on their
number line. After that, we would decide which number it was
closest to. Then, we would take notice of the digit to the right of the
place we were rounding to. Students would then circle their answer
on their number line. We did a few together and then the students
were on their own to practice a few more. I think this activity really
helped the students to see visually which end of the number line their
number was closest to and what rounding actually is.

Post Its Practice

I printed these numbers on Post Its for my next
rounding activity, Just print a few of the blank
templates. Then, type in your numbers however you’d
like. Then attach Post Its to your template and then
print again. I even printed onto the small Post Its too. I
put an arrow and an underline so students could use
them in the activity. Now, for the activity, I put the
students into pairs and gave each pair a set of numbers,
and underline Post It, and an arrow Post It. I told them
to make a 3 digit number with their Post Its. Then I had
them take their underline post it and put it under the
tens place. After that, I had them take their arrows and
point them at the number to the right of the underlined
number. Once they had that done, they rounded their
numbers to the nearest 10 on their whiteboards. Once
they had a correct answer I had them make more
numbers and round to different places. The more they
got their answers correct, the bigger I had them make
their numbers. This worked great for differentiation
since some students really seemed to get it while others
were on the struggle bus. So I have those students
creating 3 or 4 digit numbers while others were creating
5 or 6 digit numbers.

Game Show Time

The last activity that we did was to play the Rounding Game Show!
Students worked with their groups and we were rounding machines.
They were so engaged and motivated by the game, that they were
trying their best to get the points for their team. The variety of
question types helps them to be exposed to rounding in many
different ways. The question even gets more difficult the higher the
point value.
students are broken up into no more than six teams. Teams take
turns picking the category and point amount. Everyone solves EVERY
problem. If at least 50% or more of their team gets it correct, they get
the points. If not, they get nothing. I don’t take points away and
everyone has a chance to earn points on every question. I like it this
way because then all students are practicing the entire time instead of
just the team who picked the question.

Roller Coaster:

I show them a picture of a roller coaster and point to

three different points (going up, at the top, and going
down) asking, “What would happen if the roller coaster
car stopped here?” The kids are usually kids to respond
with, “The roller coaster would fall backwards and
would not go over the hill” or “The roller coaster would
keep going and make it all the way down the hill”. I
draw a roller coaster on the board and we place
numbers along the track to show which numbers would
cause the coaster to fall back or keep going.

Click here to grab the free activity I created to go along

with this lesson. I created a rounding roller coast cut
and sort activity intended for use in an interactive
notebook, but it can certainly be used separately. Then
Then, I make the connection to our rounding roller
coaster and we talk about where to place the numbers
that would cause us to round down and round up.