Tiny the tortoise has been about and he has been helping children to extend their understanding of rounding by focusing on numbers within 100,000, rounding them to the nearest 10, 100, 1,000, or 10,000. Omar is looking after Tiny the tortoise until the end of the day!
One key aspect of this learning is that rounding to the nearest 10,000 is new, though the concept builds on previous steps where children have starting developing their confidence with rounding and recognising multiples of 10,000.
To help them grasp this concept, number lines have been particularly useful. Children plot the number on a number line and visually identify the nearest multiples of 10,000. By doing this, they can clearly see whether the number is closer to rounding up or down. The midpoint, 5,000, is a critical marker on the number line, and it helps them determine whether to round up or down.
