Working with Decimal Numbers

Strand: Number
Outcomes: 8, 9, 10, 11

Step 5: Follow-up on Assessment

Guiding Questions

What conclusions can be made from assessment information?
How effective have instructional approaches been?
What are the next steps in instruction?

A. Addressing Gaps in Learning

Draw on the prior knowledge of students, spending time reviewing simple fractions as part of a region and part of a set. Review the meaning of a fraction and how it relates to a part and to a whole.
Emphasize the similarities and differences between a fraction of a region and a fraction of a set.
Provide everyday contexts for fractions and decimals that students can relate to.
Use concrete materials such as counters, decimal grids and metre sticks. Connect the concrete to diagrams and symbols.
Allow the students to use concrete materials as long as necessary to establish an understanding of the concepts.
Connect the concrete, pictorial and symbolic representations.
Build on students' prior knowledge of using benchmarks on a number line to order fractions and connect it to ordering decimals.
Have the students sort a set of decimals into groups and explain the sorting process. One way to group the decimals could be: greater than 0.5, less than 0.5 or equal to 0.5.
Ask guiding questions to direct the student's thinking. See the examples provided on the one-on-one assessment.
Provide time for students to explore and construct their own meaning rather than being told.
Encourage flexibility in thinking as students describe various ways to order decimals.
Draw on the prior knowledge of students about adding and subtracting decimals to hundredths. Review the process using base ten materials, fraction bars, grids, counters and other appropriate concrete materials.
Emphasize that students estimate the sum or difference of decimals before calculating the answer. Review that front-end estimating is useful and focuses only on the digits to the left of the decimal.
Have the students share their thinking with others so that students having some difficulty hear how another person thinks about fractions and decimals in kid-friendly language.

B. Reinforcing and Extending Learning

Students who have achieved or exceeded the outcomes will benefit from ongoing opportunities to apply and extend their learning. These activities should support students in developing a deeper understanding of the concept and should not progress to the outcomes in subsequent grades. For example, in Grade 3 you might want to explore perimeter of more irregular shapes, but you would not extend this to connecting perimeter to area, which is a Grade 4 outcome.

Strategies for Reinforcing and Extending Learning Word