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Topic 7 English
Name
Meanings of Division
Dear Family,
Your child is learning to think of division as sharing equally or as
repeated subtraction. For example, for 36 ⫼ 4 ⫽ 9
Sharing Equally
36 apples, 4 pies
How many apples in each pie?
Your child can use counters or draw a picture to help him or her solve
the problem.
Repeated Subtraction
36 ⫺ 4 ⫽ 32
32 ⫺ 4 ⫽ 28
28 ⫺ 4 ⫽ 24
24 ⫺ 4 ⫽ 20
20 ⫺ 4 ⫽ 16
16 ⫺ 4 ⫽ 12
12 ⫺ 4 ⫽ 8
8⫺4⫽4
4⫺4⫽0
Also, he or she is also learning to write division stories to help him or her
understand division.
You can help your child practice seeing division as sharing equally or as
repeated subtraction by working together. Here is an activity to try.
You Be the Author
Step 1 Write a division sentence using 1⫺10 as the divisor.
For example: 24 ⫼ 3 ⫽ 8.
Step 2 Ask your child to draw a picture to represent the problem. Then
have your child write out the repeated subtraction for the problem.
Step 3 Next, have your child write a division story using the
number sentence. For example, There are 24 students in my
class. On Wednesdays, our teacher puts us in three equal reading
groups. How many students are in each group? 24 ⫼ 3 ⫽ 8.
Topic 7
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