Long Division

Long DivisionA How-To Guide for helping your child

By: Jennifer Heishman

Long division doesnt have to be scary!Long divisionjust the sound of those two words create fear in many students. But it doesnt have to be that way!

First, lets be sure that your child understands the different parts of a long division problem.174534 r4Remainder-the leftover numberQuotient-the answer to a division problemDivisor-The number youre dividing byDividend-The number youre dividing, or dividing into

Long division is like a recipe. It has steps that must be done in a certain order if you want the problem to come out correctly. Check out the mneumonic (a trick to remember something) on the next page. We use it in class, and you can use it to help your child remember how to do long division at home!long divisioneveryone!

What you say What it meansDoesMcDonaldsSellCheapBurgers?DivideMultiplySubtractCheckBring Down

Step 1: Divide (Does)Ask yourself:

Can 4 go into 2? If yes, divide. If not, use the next number.

No, because its bigger than 2.

How many times does 4 go into 26?(If your child has trouble with this, encourage them to list the multiples of 4 until they get to a number bigger than 26). 4 x 1= 4, 4 x 2 = 8,4 x 3 =124 goes into 26 6 times.

42656

42656Now, you may be wondering why you put the 6 in the quotient above the 6 in the dividend, and not the 2.

The reason why you put it there is because you couldnt put 4 into 2. Your quotient digits always go over the furthest column to the right that youre using.

Step 2: Multiply (McDonalds)Multiply the number you just wrote down by the divisor.6 x 4 = 24Write that answer below the dividend.

4265624

Step 3: Subtract (Sell)Subtract 24 from 26.

4265624_________226 - 24 = 2Write the answer below the columns of numbers that you subtracted.Helpful tip: Make sure your child keeps their columns straight. This will keep them from getting confused about which numbers theyre using!

4265624_________2Step 4: Check (Cheap)This step should not be skipped!

At this step, you check to make sure the number you just wrote is smaller than your divisor (remember, thats the number outside of the table).

Ask yourself:

Is 2 smaller than 4?

Yes

If yes, move on to the next step. If not, it means you made a mistake somewhere. Check each step carefully.(If a mistake is made, it is usually that they didnt put the divisor into the dividend enough times. In this problem, this would happen if they took 5 times 4 instead of 6 times 4.)

Step 5: Bring Down (Burgers)

4265624_________25

Now, if there are more numbers in the dividend to work with, you bring them down (one at a time).

After this step, you start all over with the process!

The next slides will continue walking you through the rest of the problem.Helpful tip: I always have my students draw the arrow down to where the number needs to go so that they dont get confused and put it next to the number they subtracted!

42656624_________25

Step 1: Divide (Does)Ask yourself:

How many times does 4 go into 25?

4 goes into 25 6 times.(Again, if your child has trouble with this, encourage them to list the multiples of 4 until they get to a number bigger than 25).

Step 2: Multiply (McDonalds)Multiply the number you just wrote by the divisor.

42656624_________2524Write that answer below the newdividend.6 x 4 = 24

Step 3: Subtract (Sell)Subtract 24 from 25.

25 - 24 = 1Write the answer below the columns of numbers that you subtracted.

42656624_________2524________ 1

Step 4: Check (Cheap)

42656624_________2524________ 1At this step, you check to make sure the number you just wrote is smaller than your divisor (remember, thats the number outside of the table).

Ask yourself:

Is 1 smaller than 4?

Yes

If yes, move on to the next step. If not, it means you made a mistake somewhere. Check each step carefully.

426566 r124_________2524________ 1By now, youve probably realized that there are no more numbers to bring down. This means that weve come to the end of the problem! The only thing left to do is write your remainder next to your quotient.

Your remainder is the number you are left with at the end of the problem. In this problem, the remainder is 1.

The answer to 265 divided by 4 is 66 r1.

Congratulations! Youve just solved a long division problem!On the next slides, there are more long division problems to practice your skills! If you need help remembering the steps, just go back to my earlier slides!

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8393

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This is a fun video with a long division rap!(At the end of the video, he uses decimals instead of remainders. Dont worry about thiswe use remainders in our class!)

Click on the link below to play a long division game!Snork's Long Division Game

What did you think? Was this presentation helpful?

Id love to hear your feedback!

Feel free to e-mail me at jheishman@bigspringsd.org and let me know!