Decimals

“Decimals, decimals, decimals,” Ms. Luna walked around the classroom. She was wearing a space themed outfit - her hair wrapped into two large space buns, her legs enveloped in vibrant planet socks. “They’re tricky fellas - but they’ll get easier when you get the hang of them.”

Ms. Luna pulled out a treasure chest, full of 50 golden coins.

"Decimals," Ms. Luna explained, "are like magical markers that reveal parts of a whole. For instance, 0.1 in Decimal Land represents one-tenth of our golden coins. As we delve deeper, we can explore decimals like 0.73, where each digit holds a unique place value."

Ms. Luna pulled away 5 golden coins to represent 0.1 of all the coins in the treasure. 0.1 meant that they were taking one-tenth of the treasure, since the one was one place behind the decimal. If the number was 0.2, it would mean they were taking two-tenths of the treasure. For 0.7, it would be seven-tenths.

"The number 0.73 means we're taking seven-tenths and three-hundredths of our treasure. The '7' is in the tenths place, while the '3' is in the hundredths place."

So, for 0.85, it would mean they were taking eight tenths and five hundredths of the treasure. Another easier way to do it would be to think of 0.85 as 85/100, or 85 hundredths.

"In Decimal Land, 0.6 is also equivalent to 60%. We're taking six parts out of ten, which would be the same as 60 parts out of 100."

Ms. Luna also explained that 0.8, could be shown as 8/10. And since 8/10 is equal to 80/100, it is also equal to 80%!

Liam chimed in, "Decimals are kind of like magical bridges, connecting different types of math. With them, we can travel between percentages and fractions."

As the class started to come to an end, Ms. Luna asked the class to figure out how many coins 0.2 of the treasure would be. Since there were 50 coins in total, the group converted 0.2 to 2/10. 2/10 was also equal to ⅕, which was found by dividing the numerator and denominator by 2. Then, they multiplied ⅕ by 50, and got an answer of 10. 0.2 of the treasure was 10 coins! Ms. Luna made learning decimals fun and easy, and everyone enjoyed eating their reward. To their surprise, the coins were made out of chocolate! It only made the decimal-filled day even sweeter.