#4742. Blackberry Division

Mathematics, level: all
Posted 12/02/2013 by Robin Dobson (Robin Dobson).
Robin Dobson Books
Robin Dobson Books, Santa Barbara, USA
Materials Required: Paper
Activity Time: 30 minutes for first lesson.
Concepts Taught: Divisor, Dividend, Remainder, Divison

Blackberry Banquet Division Board

I'm posting a division lesson based on the unit division board used in Montessori education, but without the division board. Because you can make our own!

In a Montessori school this type of lesson would be introduced typically during the "Kindergarten" year, long before most public schools are actively working on division. As long as the students have mastered counting with one-to-one correspondence, and have their numeral recognition down, they can divide! Division is just sharing, which when you are teaching kids you are talking about all the time anyway, so you are probably already teaching it! I love linking science and math with fun picture books.

In BLACKBERRY BANQUET, by Terry Pierce and Lisa Downey, a cast of wild creatures all share blackberries from one bush. Perfect. Division, here we come!

My free printables will allow you to work with dividends (the amount you are dividing) from 1-81, and use divisors (the amount you are dividing by) from 1-9.

See the little characters? Those are your divisors. Simply cut them out, color them in, and decide, who's going to share in the blackberry banquet!

See the blackberries? Those are your dividends. Cut them out, color them in, and decide, how many blackberries should we begin with! My kiddos love to color and cut, but this can be a frustration for some kids. Remember, you can always use small objects, like pennies, to be your divisors!

Try it out! If you need a PDF format, it is probably already up on my blog and if you have questions you can always ask them in the comments section: www.RobinDobsonBooks.com

Remember, you don't NEED to have the book to use this lesson. You can make up your own story, or simply use the division board with objects to represent your dividends and divisors!

About Robin Dobson: I'm a credentialed California elementary teacher an author and a mom. My kids are always muddy and we are usually out in the garden. I'm blogging book reviews, author & illustrator interviews, and fun education activities at: www.RobinDobsonBooks.com.

Happy teaching!

<3 Robin