Rounding to the nearest 10, 100 or 1,000 – Year 4 maths lesson

For parents: how to use this lesson

You don't need to know this topic yourself. The lesson explains each step on screen, the way Mr Euclid, our Head of Maths, likes it: one tidy step at a time. Every answer is marked straight away with a worked explanation, so you never have to mark anything.

1. Read what your child will learn together.
2. Press Start the lesson below and sit with your child for the teaching and the worked examples (about 19 minutes).
3. 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.
4. Finish with the exit ticket and the talk question: “Why does 450 round up to 500 when it is exactly in the middle?”
5. Later that day or the next day: the homework (20 minutes), then a practice test.

Watch out for

• Always rounding down (cutting off the last digits). Put both multiples on a number line and ask which one is nearer.
• Looking at the wrong digit, e.g. using the ones digit when rounding to the nearest 100. Underline the column you are rounding to, then circle the digit just to its right.

Miss Hypatia's tip for home: Round shopping prices to the nearest pound together and estimate the total.