Repeated Subtraction for Early Division

Here is an idea for your Monday math warm up - especially if you've made 4 leaf (or even 3 leaf) clovers for St Patrick's Day. 

Have students work with numbers by distributing counters or clips around their clover bit-by-bit to make equal groups. Model repeated subtraction as early division and revise your work on equality (groups of the same quantity). 

You can choose to give your students a set number of clips to work with or use a dice. If using a dice, talk about leftovers and how we can't use them as it must be a fair-share. 

Students:
  • roll a 10 sided dice (or similar)
  • count a matching number of equipment pieces
  • distribute the materials by repeated subtraction around the leaves



As it is a warm up, there is no need to write down numbers, instead encourage yoru students to talk about what they found: 8 counters shared on 4 leaves is 2 counters each.