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Brick Playbook: Parent Edition
Divide a Build
Explore division by breaking brick plates into smaller bricks.
Objective:
Child will be able to understand the basics of division.
Essential Question(s):
How can we better understand division of large groups of numbers?
Special Materials:
None
Bricks Required:
16×16 plates, plates of other sizes (not 1×1 or 1×2)
Project Structure
Engage/Explore
- Ask child to use smaller plates to divide up a 16×16 plate by laying them next to each other and counting how many it takes to cover the whole plate.
- Ask: “How many small plates did it take to divide the larger plate?” “Do you have any remainder or studs left over?”
- Have child write out a division problem to reflect the model in front of them.
Explain
- Ask child to repeat the process above using a different-sized brick to cover the plates.
- Have child model this division problem as well, and ask them how it differs from the previous one.
- Child then calculates how many studs are on each plate, and writes a division sentence to show their math.
- Have child compare their model to the written math problems to check their work.
