Divide by a 2-digit number

What's on the sheet

9 problems set up for long division, with room to work, on US Letter paper, with a box for the score. Some from sheet 1:

• 1932 ÷ 23 = 84
• 2759 ÷ 31 = 89
• 164 ÷ 41 = 4
• 1470 ÷ 35 = 42

Helping at home

In 5th grade, children divide numbers up to four digits by a two-digit number. The new skill is estimating each digit of the answer. For 1,932 ÷ 23, they think of 23 as about 20: how many 20s are in 193? About 9, but 9 × 23 = 207 is too big, so they try 8 and get 184. The answer comes out to 84.

Estimating a digit too high or too low is normal, and fixing it is part of the skill. The slip to watch for is not noticing: a subtraction that goes negative means the digit was too big, and a remainder bigger than the divisor means it was too small.

One way to help at home: write the first few multiples of the divisor on the side before starting (23, 46, 69, 92 and so on). Then each step is a lookup. As always, check by multiplying: 84 × 23 should make 1,932.