How to Estimate – Multiplication Style!

When teaching your students how to estimate the product of two factors, chances are they will use those handy rounding skills you taught them in your place value or decimals unit. In order to estimate decimal products, teach your students that they are finding an approximate answer and can always calculate the exact answer to see how the estimate compares.

When estimating products with decimals, typically, students will round each factor to the nearest whole number, otherwise known as the ones place. For example, if the problem reads 2.57 x 4.18, the rounded equation would be 3 x 4. When multiplying these factors together, the estimated product would be 12. If looking at the actual product, we can see that 10.7426 is the actual answer.

Estimating Products Practise!

Do your students know how to round factors and then multiply them? The concept of estimating products can be a helpful real-life skill when it comes to situations such as determining how much money 2.5 kg of grapes would cost at the grocery store or even figuring out approximately how much money you would earn for 11.75 hours of work.

Teach Starter has created an engaging match-up game for your students to practice identifying rounded equations and an estimated product for 12 different equations.

After finding each three-piece match, students can write the card numbers on the provided recording sheet. When you are ready to grade your students’ work, use the provided answer key for quick and easy grading!

Download and Print Your Estimation Maths Game

Are you ready for your students to start using this matching game? Head on over to the green download button to choose from the quick-print PDF document or the editable Google Slides file. If selecting the Google Slides option, please note that you will first be prompted to make a copy of the resource to your personal drive before accessing it. 

Print the matching cards on thick card for added durability and longevity. The cards can then be placed in a folder or large envelope for easy access. 

This resource was created by Cassandra Friesen, a Teach Starter Collaborator.

Don’t stop there! We’ve got more activities and resources that cut down on lesson planning time:  

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Estimating Quotients Sorting Activity

Guide your students to use rounding and compatible numbers when estimating quotients with this 24-card sorting activity.

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Estimating Products With Decimals Task Cards

Challenge your students to estimate before multiplying decimals with this set of 24 task cards.

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Coffee Shop Calculations – Estimation With Decimals Task Cards

Download this set of 24 task cards to help your students practise estimating decimal sums and differences with benchmark numbers.