Lesson 3

Decimales en rectas numéricas

Lesson Purpose

The purpose of this lesson is for students to reason about and compare the size of decimals using a number line.

Lesson Narrative

Prior to this lesson, students made sense of tenths and hundredths in decimal notation. They also analyzed and wrote equivalent decimals. In this lesson, they use number lines to reason about the relative size of two or more decimals. The reasoning here is similar to that in an earlier unit, when students used number lines to compare fractions. Students see that, just as before, they can learn about the relative size of decimals by considering their positions on a number line and their relationship to benchmarks such as 0, 0.5, and 1. They will use these insights to compare and order fractions in the next lesson.

Students attend to precision and use the structure of the number line (MP6, MP7) when they locate and label decimals between two tick marks representing tenths. For example, halfway between 0.4 and 0.5 will be the decimal 0.45 whereas 0.48 will be much closer to 0.5 than to 0.4.

  • Action and Expression
  • MLR8

Activity 1: Puntos en rectas numéricas

Learning Goals

Teacher Facing

  • Reason about and compare the size of decimals to hundredths using a number line.

Student Facing

  • Comparemos algunos decimales.

Required Preparation

CCSS Standards

Addressing

Lesson Timeline

Warm-up 10 min
Activity 1 20 min
Activity 2 15 min
Lesson Synthesis 10 min
Cool-down 5 min

Teacher Reflection Questions

In earlier units, students compared fractions using many different strategies, including comparing fractions to benchmarks and creating equivalent fractions. Where did you see evidence of students making connections to those reasoning strategies in this lesson?

Suggested Centers

  • Rolling for Fractions (3–5), Stage 1: Equivalent Fractions (Supporting)
  • Get Your Numbers in Order (1–5), Stage 4: Denominators 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, or 100 (Supporting)

Print Formatted Materials

Teachers with a valid work email address can click here to register or sign in for free access to Cool Down, Teacher Guide, and PowerPoint materials.

Student Task Statements pdf docx
Lesson Cover Page pdf docx
Cool Down Log In
Teacher Guide Log In
Teacher Presentation Materials pdf docx