This game requires students to work together to solve long division problems containing decimals. Divide your class into two teams and line each team up in single-file style. Write the same long division problem on your board in two different areas. Use problems that have remainders. After giving the first player in each line a marker or piece of chalk (depending on your board type), give the signal to begin. Both students must race to the board and work through the first digit of the quotient. After this the students run back, pass the writing utensil to the next student in line and move to the back of the line. The team that finishes the problem correctly first earns a point.
This is another game that has two teams competing in terms of accuracy and speed during the activity of long division. Create a set of long division problems that contain decimals. Write each problem on an index card. Write the answer to each problem on another index card. Divide your class into two teams and instruct everyone to have a pencil and piece of paper handy. Call one team to the front of the class and divide them into two sections with each section on a different side of the room. Give one section of the team problem cards and the other side answer cards. When you give the signal, the students with problem cards must figure out the answers to their division problem and then find the other team member who has an answer card that matches that problem. Start a timer when you tell the team to go, and stop the timer when each student on the team has found his match. Repeat the exercise with the second team. The team that has the best time wins.
You will need a deck of cards for every two students in this game. Divide the students into pairs and give each pair a deck of cards. Give instructions to shuffle the cards and divide them evenly between the two students in each pair. One student in each pair turns over one card and then another. Both students write down the two cards as a two-digit number dividend, with face cards counting 10 and aces counting as 1. For example, a 6 and an 8 would be 68. The second student then flips over one card, which the students write down as a dividend. Both students then race to see who can find the correct quotient first. The first correct answer earns a point. Repeat the activity until the pairs have worked through their decks or a certain time limit has expired. If the answer in this activity happens to be a whole number, students can still use a decimal by writing the answer as the whole number, plus a decimal and a zero.
Rounding is a common activity in long division with decimals. This game gives students practice in rounding to various place values. Write numbers with decimals on index cards (one per card). Write rounded versions of these numbers on the board in random order. Divide your class into two teams. Select one person from each team to go first. Draw an index card from the stack and write the number on the board. Declare a place value that the students must round to, such as the hundredths place. After you give a signal to begin, the students must run to the board in an attempt to be the first person to point to or touch the correct answer in terms of rounding. The first one to do so earns a point for his team. Continue playing until everyone has had a turn.