Rounding is an essential - albeit sometimes frustrating - skill that students will use throughout their lives. Students will use rounding to estimate sums, differences, products, and quotients. Students can round numbers to estimate an answer when only an estimate is required, or when checking their exact calculations for reasonableness.
So, what is the difference between estimating and rounding? Rounding has "rules," whereas estimating sums...well, that process becomes a little bit more abstract. Rounding the addends is the most common way to estimate sums. 2-digit and 3-digit numbers are rounded to the nearest ten or hundred before the sums are estimated. However, another way to estimate sums is to use compatible numbers: numbers that are close to the addends but easier to add when using mental math. Learning to use compatible numbers can be really tricky for students, because it often goes against the rules of rounding that they have just started to internalize. Remind your child that the 3rd grade introduces many new skills that will take practice to master. Encourage them to use Rule Seven...Practice Makes Progress (thanks, Grayson!!). Just remember, Rome wasn't built in a day!! :-)
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