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Number Trail Grade 4 / Week 02 / Thursday
4/6
Week 02 · Add and subtract big numbers

Thursday

The long river trail
// Place by place, with regrouping
⏱ about 15 min

Thursday: The long river trail

Chris the Coyote settles onto a log and opens his satchel.

"The river trail is 5,000 meters long," he begins.

"One morning, Rosie the Rabbit hopped 1,368 meters before she stopped for a rest."

"She looked down the trail and wondered how far she still had to go."

"She had a problem. The top number had zeros in the ones, tens and hundreds!"

"So she regrouped all the way from the thousands."

Chris winks. "Let me show you how she did it."

Story: Subtract across zeros

Rosie needs 5,000 - 1,368. There are no ones, tens or hundreds to take from.

So she thinks of 5,000 as 4 thousands, 9 hundreds, 9 tens and 10 ones.

Now each top digit is big enough.

  5,000
- 1,368
-------
  3,632

Ones: 10 - 8 = 2. Tens: 9 - 6 = 3.

Hundreds: 9 - 3 = 6. Thousands: 4 - 1 = 3.

Rosie has 3,632 meters left to go.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE STORY
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
A trailHow long is the river trail?
The trail is 5,000 meters. Rosie hopped 1,368 meters. How many meters are left?
SUBTRACT ACROSS ZEROS
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
4,000 - 2,659 = ?
7,003 - 4,518 = ?
60,000 - 24,375 = ?
30,200 - 17,846 = ?

More story problems

SOLVE THE STORY
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
A hill is 8,240 meters around. Donnie walks 3,675 meters. How many meters are left?
Owls counted 15,780 stars one night and 26,450 the next. How many stars?
Pond A has 52,000 pebbles. Pond B has 38,460. How many more are at Pond A?
Hazel knits 3,608 stitches, then 4,795 more. How many stitches in all?
ADD OR SUBTRACT?
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
Rosie hops 1,368 meters, then 2,450 more. How far did she hop?
A trail is 5,000 meters. Rosie hopped 1,368. How far is left?
Pond A has 52,000 pebbles and Pond B has 38,460. How many more at Pond A?
SentenceTrue or false?
5,000 - 1,368 = 3,632?
4,000 - 2,659 = 2,441?
7,003 - 4,518 = 2,485?
WHY THIS EXERCISE4,000 - 2,659 is 1,341.
Try it
Write 1,000 on a piece of paper.
Show it as 9 hundreds, 9 tens and 10 ones.
Now take away 365. What is left?
Draw Rosie on the river trail and write how far she has left.

What a trail! Tomorrow Freddy has an adding and subtracting game.

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