Reading and writing decimals in words practice

Word names show whether a child really sees place value. To say 415.7256, your child has to know that the last digit sits in the ten-thousandths place, then name the whole decimal part with that one word: seven thousand two hundred fifty-six ten-thousandths. The word "and" marks the decimal point, and only the point.

The page climbs from 0.09 and 0.005 to numbers with four and five decimal places, so the place names get longer as your child goes. Saying the number aloud before writing it is the quickest way to read decimals to the thousandths without guessing.

This is the read-and-write half of 5.NBT.A.3; the ten-thousandths and hundred-thousandths lines stretch it a little past the standard.

Before your child writes anything, read the first line together. Ask, "Which place does the last 5 sit in?" Count it out: tenths, hundredths, thousandths, ten-thousandths, hundred-thousandths. The digits after the point, 00035, read as thirty-five.

A note for parents: the red example on page 1 says "fifty and fifty five hundred thousandths." That is wrong; page 2 has it right, fifty and thirty-five hundred-thousandths. Point it out first, or your child may copy the slip.

The likeliest mistake comes at 3000.29, where kids say "three thousand twenty-nine." Ask, "Where does the and go?" Two small slips on page 2 as well: read two and one tenth, and write fifty-two with a hyphen.

Grocery receipts are full of decimals that nobody reads as numbers. Pick two prices and have your child say them without dollars: 3.49 becomes three and forty-nine hundredths. At the gas station, the price per gallon often has three decimal places, which makes a good thousandths drill on the drive home.

Math Curse by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith follows a girl who suddenly sees math in every part of her day. After reading it, let your child hunt the house for one decimal and write its word name.

Tell your child what they did: "You named the last place before you wrote a word." Next in the series, numbers like these get lined up from least to greatest.