Estimating Division Problems

We began our journey with LONG division today.  We will be dividing 4-digit dividends by 2-digit divisors.  We started by creating a division word web that showcases prior knowledge of division (I was trying to prove that they have worked with this before!):

This took a majority of the class time, so we were just able to begin working with estimating with division.   I focused on using compatible numbers:

For example, if our problem was 2786 divided by 49.  We would round 49 to 50.  Next we would round 27 to a multiple of 5 that is close to 27.  The students chose 30.  So our problem becomes 3000 divided by 50.  Our estimation is 60 (see the second problem below).

What I like about estimating with compatible numbers is that the estimation gives us a reasonable idea of the answer to the actual problem.  So as we worked together to solve the problem (this is the first day, after all).  We used our estimation as a guide to the division.  By the end of class, nerves were calming down!

We will be working with this topic again tomorrow!!!