Lesson Plan
Make a Big Difference
Master rounding and estimating skills by having students challenge their classmates in the Make a Big Difference game. Roll three dice two times to arrive at two three-digit numbers. The largest difference wins!
Grade:
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Learning Objectives
Students will be able to fluently round and estimate the differences between three-digit numbers.
Introduction
(5 minutes)- Write the following digits on the board: 4, 6, 9, and 1.
- Ask students to work with a partner to arrange them into two, two-digit numbers and then find the difference between them.
- Have students share out their differences.
- Now ask students to rearrange the digits so that the difference is larger than it was in the first round.
- Ask for a show of hands to indicate who was able to arrive at a larger difference. Have them share some of their strategies. Note how students used estimation thinking as they strategized.
- Note their strategies on a piece of chart paper or on the whiteboard.