5th grade

Math has a defined and precise order of operations that must be followed for problems to come out correctly. Calculators are programmed with the order of operations. Students have to learn them!

Most students learn the acronym PEMDAS to remember the order of operations.  PEMDAS stands for:

1st do Parentheses (do operations in parentheses first -- following PEMDAS inside the parentheses!  Do nested parentheses from the most nested (deepest inside the parentheses) to the least nested)

Once students master the process of long division, longer problem just have more steps and require stronger multiplication skills.  The process is exactly the same. 

To review the long division process (and acronyms for remembering the steps), see the lesson on Long Division with remainders (1 digit divisor).

Just like with one digit-divisors, we typically use the "house method" to do long division with multi-digit divisors.  Remember, the "house method" reverses the divisor and dividend

Division (once you get past the division facts that are just the inverse of times tables) is the most complicated whole number operation -- mostly because doing long division requires multiplication and subtraction.  Students who have not learned their times tables or mastered subtraction with borrowing will struggle with long division.

The trickiest part of long division is keeping numbers and place values oriented properly (when you divide into a number you must divide the divisor into each digit of the dividend).

Once students master the process of long division, longer problem just have more steps and require stronger multiplication skills.  The process is exactly the same. 

To review the long division process (and acronyms for remembering the steps), see the lesson on Long Division with no remainders (1 digit divisor).

Just like with one digit-divisors, we typically use the "house method" to do long division with multi-digit divisors.  Remember, the "house method" reverses the divisor and dividend