Hillsborough County Public Schools Elementary Mathematics Parent Connection

Hillsborough County Public Schools
Elementary Mathematics Parent Connection
Grade 5 – Unit 8: Division of Decimals
In this unit your child will work to build an understanding of Division of Decimals. Just like with Division of Whole
Numbers, remind your child there is a divisor, dividend, and a quotient. Your child will be dividing by a whole number
and decimal and dividing decimals by decimals.
Students will be dividing decimals by whole numbers using real world scenarios. Pictures representing base ten blocks
would be a good strategy to support your child in understanding division of decimals and whole numbers. For example:
in a swimming relay, each swimmer swims an equal part of the total distance. Brianna and three other swimmers won a
relay in 5.68 minutes. What is the average time each girl swam?
Check out the “Parent Quick Smarts” video by clicking
on the QR code or the Internet link provided.
Other Helpful Links:
Study jams tutorial for dividing decimals by whole
numbers.
http://goo.gl/exgn2s
Interactive using division and multiplication of decimals.
http://goo.gl/Py8vzD
5.68 separated into 4 equal groups is 1.42. Your child
can decompose the base ten blocks into 4 equal
groups as the model above shows. Ask questions such
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-Xd-Vyg2MY
as: what does each group represent? (girl)
What does the amount in each group represent?
(the average amount of time each girl swam)
Students will also use decimal models to divide a decimal by a decimal. Students are finding the number of same sized
groups. For example, when dividing 1.2 ÷ 0.3, students will find how many groups of 0.3 are in 1.2.
1.2 ÷ 0.3 = 4
There are four groups of 0.3 in 1.2
Sample tasks your child should be able to work through by the end of the unit:
Purposeful Practice you and your child may work on at home together.
Dividing money by whole numbers helps students make real world connections to dividing by decimals. Three different
real world connections could be:
 Finding the best buy
o David pays $64.11 for 3 tickets to the Bucs game. Sherry paid $42.88 for 2 tickets. Who got the better
buy? Justify your solution.

Splitting a bill in a restaurant
o The total bill at Chili’s was $75.42. The bill was split equally between Darrell and his five friends. How
much did each person pay?

Calculating a monthly payment based on the total cost
o Scott’s Mom bought a popular video game at Target for $78.90. Scott’s mom said that he needed to pay
her back in 5 equal monthly installments. How much is Scott’s monthly payment?