The progression of division starts in 3rd grade…and it is crucial that students really develop a deep concrete understanding of division. If your 4th grade students are still relying on drawing pictures of equal groups with tally marks, they may not have that deep understanding necessary to progress to more efficient strategies, such as the area model.
Checkout the short video below about the progression of division, so that you can support your students in finding whole-number quotients…using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division…illustrate and explain…using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models (MAFS.4.NBT.2.6). There sure is A LOT packed into that 4th grade standard, and this video will not only show you the foundational understanding they need, but it helps to unpack what students’ understanding of division should look like in 4th grade.
