Rounding decimals – Year 4 maths lesson
Lesson 19 of 31 in the Year 4 maths course
UK version. UK school years, UK spelling and pounds (£). · US Math Department
A complete 45-minute lesson for Year 4 (ages 8–9) that runs on this page – at school or at home. Every answer is marked straight away, with a worked explanation.
- Time
- 45 minutes + 20 min homework
- Year
- Year 4 (ages 8–9)
- You need
- Paper, a pencil and this page
- Marked
- Instantly, with explanations
For parents: how to use this lesson
You don't need to know this topic yourself. The lesson explains each step on screen, one tidy step at a time. Every answer is marked straight away with a worked explanation, so you never have to mark anything.
- Read what your child will learn and the big ideas together.
- Press Start the lesson below and sit with your child for the teaching and the worked examples (about 19 minutes).
- Let them do the practice on their own. They choose Getting started, On track or Challenge – start on On track and move up after a few right in a row.
- Finish with the exit ticket and the talk question: “Why does 4.95 round to 5.0 to one decimal place?”
- Later that day or the next day: the homework (20 minutes), then a practice test.
Watch out for
- Looking at the wrong digit to decide. Underline the place you are rounding to and circle the next digit.
- Rounding 2.96 to one decimal place as 2.10. Nine tenths plus one tenth is a whole one: the answer is 3.0.
Tip for home: Round prices or race times to the nearest whole number together.
What your child will learn
We are learning to round decimals to the nearest whole number, tenth or hundredth.
Success looks like
- I can round to the nearest whole number.
- I can round to one decimal place.
- I can explain which digit decides.
Key words
- round
- change to the nearest value at a given place
- decimal place
- a place after the decimal point
- nearest
- closest on the number line
- tenth
- the first place after the point
What to have ready
- Paper and a pencil
- This page on a computer, tablet or phone
- For the hands-on part: Draw a number line between two whole numbers marked in tenths. Place decimals on it and decide which end each is nearer to.
The big ideas (for the adult)
Rounding a decimal works like rounding whole numbers: find the two numbers it is between at the place you are rounding to.
Look at the digit one place to the right. If it is 5 or more, round up; if it is 4 or less, round down.
After rounding to one decimal place there is exactly one digit after the point: 3.96 rounds to 4.0.
The lesson, step by step
| Part | Time | How it is checked |
|---|---|---|
| Starter: quick recall | 5 min | Marked by Classfern |
| Teaching input | 10 min | Not assessed, self-checked |
| Worked examples and guided practice | 9 min | Not assessed, marked by Classfern |
| Independent practice | 15 min | Marked by Classfern |
| Plenary and exit ticket | 6 min | Marked by Classfern, self-checked |
Starter, "your turn", practice and exit ticket are marked by Classfern. Worked examples and teaching are not assessed. The hands-on task and the reflection are self-assessed. Explanations in talk are judged by the parent and not recorded.
The lesson
It runs here on the page. No sign-up and no names – progress is kept only in this browser.
Homework and practice at home
20 minutes: 10 practice questions, 3 multiple-choice questions and 2 to remember from earlier work, then a short reflection. New questions every time, all marked instantly.
More practice
More Year 4 maths lessons
- Place value: the value of each digit
- Rounding to the nearest 10, 100 or 1,000
- One more, one less, ten more and ten less
- Number lines
- Comparing, ordering and writing numbers
- Roman numerals
- Column addition
- Column subtraction
- Times tables
- Short multiplication
- Multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1,000
- Multiplication and division
- Solving word problems
- Equivalent fractions
- Adding and subtracting fractions with the same denominator
- Fractions of amounts
- Decimals: tenths, hundredths and thousandths
- Tenths and hundredths
- Fractions, decimals and percentages
- Area of rectangles
- Perimeter
- Converting units of time
- Money: totals and change
- The 24-hour clock
- Types of angles and measuring angles
- Properties of 2-D shapes
- Lines of symmetry
- Coordinates
- Bar charts, pictograms and tables
- Line graphs
Curriculum
National Curriculum for England, Year 4: “round decimals with 1 decimal place to the nearest whole number”
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Our lessons and questions are our own. They are not written or endorsed by any government department, testing agency or exam board.