Long Division struggles--any free supplements/experience you can share?

[cintinative]

We are wrapping up MIF 3A and my son is really struggling to understand long division. He understands the concept of division, and he knows his multiplication really well. Yesterday I went over about 30 problems from Math-Aids, showing him how to do it, where to put the numbers, etc. but he is still not "getting it."  Are there videos, worksheets, or anything you all can recommend? We hit a roadblock like this in Grade 1 math, and eventually it clicked and he was fine. My guess is that is what is happening here.  

 

 

For example, even after me modeling it, he might write the second digit in the quotient in front of the first, or write the multiplied number in the quotient, instead of below. 

 

Thank you in advance for your help.

[wapiti]

LetsPlayMath's Cookie  Factory  Guide to Long Division  http://letsplaymath.net/2010/04/12/the-cookie-factory-guide-to-long-division/

 

MM topic book http://www.mathmammoth.com/division_2.php

[Farrar]

If you have a large set of C-rods, we liked the long division method on Education Unboxed:

http://www.educationunboxed.com/multiplication_and_division_with_large_numbers.html

 

 

[kiana]

Sometimes it also works to just take a break for a bit, work onwards in other math, and then come back and try again. If your supplements don't work, you might consider this. 

[ErinE]

I did what I call "bucket math." I made manipulatives out of small pieces of paper and wrote various ten-units on them: 1, 10. 100, 1000, 10000.

 

On a lap whiteboard, I then wrote out a simple long division problem.

 

3648/8 (in long division form)

 

Using the paper manipulatives, DS pulled out 3-1000 slips of paper, 6-100s, 4-10s, and 8-1s.

 

I drew eight buckets underneath the problem. Holding the 3-1000 slips of paper, I asked DS to divide them evenly among the buckets. Is it possible? No? Fine, exchange the 3-1000s for 30-100s (it helps to have a lot of small slips of paper).

 

How many 100s now? Thirty from the thousands and 6 from the original number so the total 100s is 36. Divide 36 among the eight buckets.

Does it divide evenly? No.

How many can we put in each bucket? Four 100s; write this down over the 100s digit.

How many 100s have we used total? Thirty-two; write this down underneath the 36 100s.

How many left over? Four 100s

 

Repeat for the 10s. Exchange 4-100s for 40-10s. Combine with original 4-10s. Divide among the buckets. Write down the amount in each bucket (5-10s). See what's left over, repeat for 1s.

 

The final answer should equal the slips of paper in each bucket: 456

 

At each step, DS is also working through the long division format so he understands what each step means.

 

We repeated this process often. Even after DS had practiced for awhile, if I felt he was forgetting, I'd pull out the pieces of paper and we'd work through a problem. I kept the slips clipped together by unit in a ziplock bag so I didn't lose them or have bits of paper everywhere.

[Kathie in VA]

I like ErinE's method above. Think I'll incorporate filling in all the zeros to show the place value.

 

What I did was repeated subtraction to show not only that long division was shorter but also what was really happening. Each time we put a number on top it showed how many TIMES we subtracted. And then we do all those subtractions in one step using multiplication first.

[EndOfOrdinary]

I still remember the long division song and dance I had to learn in fourth grade. There are quite a few songs on YouTube ranging from silly to just informative. Perhaps giving him a rhythmic mantra to say while he is going through might help. I am always amazed at how much music helps my son.

[hornblower]

Have you tried using graph paper for math problems? It's always way easier for kids to keep things lined up when using graph paper.

 

BTW, just an aside - I find the way you do ld in North Am so weird. Seems unnecessarily weird to flip the numbers. I learned to do it like this, where the numbers stay left to right (this number, divided by this number)

 

[kbutton]

I like ErinE's method above. Think I'll incorporate filling in all the zeros to show the place value.

 

What I did was repeated subtraction to show not only that long division was shorter but also what was really happening. Each time we put a number on top it showed how many TIMES we subtracted. And then we do all those subtractions in one step using multiplication first.

 

Filling in zeroes for the place value helped my son a lot--it made more sense conceptually. It eliminates the bring down the next digit step, which is a big help when kids forget steps.