Math Lesson Plan: Rounding to the Nearest Dollar

Lesson Opening

1. Do a quick review on what a decimal is and how to convert it to a fraction. Remind them what to call the decimal, how the decimal is pronounced "and" and how all decimals have a fractional equivalent.

1. What decimal skills have we learned so far? We know how to compare, order, name, add/subtract fractions. Today, we are going to look at rounding.

Guided Practice

1. Did you know that the government is thinking about getting rid of change? Why? Because you can't buy anything anymore with change. It's not worth anything. Today, we are going to forget about how much change we have and just focus on the dollar amounts.

1. Where's one place you see decimals all the time? Money. The numbers to the left of the decimal stand for dollars and the numbers to the right of the decimal stand for cents.

1. Suppose I'm hanging out with a friend and he asks how much money I have. I find $2.62. But he doesn't want to know exactly, he wants to know about how much money I have. Do I tell him 2 or $3?

1. Today, I am going to be continually asking myself this question: What is the nearest whole dollar amount I have. To do that, I need to find a cutoff number. Obviously, one cent means I round down and 99 cents mean I round up. Where is the cut off point?

1. Guide the children to the answer of 50 cents. Explain the "Are you more than 4?" rule.

Independent Practice

1. Have the children complete a quick worksheet about rounding money to the nearest dollar.

1. Remind them that 5 is the magic number. If you have 50 or more cents, than you automatically round up.

Closing

1. Ask students to share their answers.