Decimal Day

This activity focuses on ordering decimals to two places. Students could model the height of each player using two metre rulers on the floor.

K, R, S, J, and M are the initial letters of the players.
Introduce question 2 carefully. Students may have difficulty fully understanding the question. They need to be clear who is in the original team and who the new players are. Read it through with the students. Highlight the team changes by asking: “Who are the two new players? Who must have been left out if Aroha is now the shortest?”

Game

This game is short and simple but very effective for challenging students’  understanding of the digits involved in decimal numbers.
Have the winning students justify their result by talking about the place value of their digits. Vary the rules to create more learning opportunities. For example, you could ask students to “Make the largest decimal with a two-digit whole number in it. Make the smallest decimal with a one-digit whole number in it. Make the biggest number you can that is smaller than 7 but larger than 3.9.”

Answers to Activity

1. Centre: Minnie (tallest)
Guards: Joe and Stretch (second and third tallest)
Forwards: Ruth and Kevin (shortest)
2. a. Joe and Stretch
b. Joe is a guard, and Stretch is a forward.
c. Ruth and Kevin
Game
A game using decimals