Dividing 2- and 3-digit Numbers by 1 Digit

Warning: Your screen size is quite small for viewing this. Rotate your device into landscape mode if you can.

1 Getting Started
2 Watch and Notice
3 Try It Together
4 Work It in Your Copy
5 Class Challenge
Pupil practice

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

Illustration for Getting Started Here is a real problem from the shop. A tray holds 84 fairy cakes and they are being packed equally into 4 boxes for a bake sale. Roughly how many cakes go in each box, and where would you start working it out?

Teacher Notes

Take two or three hands-up estimates, not open call-outs. Give five seconds of quiet think-time first.

Listen for whether pupils reach for the tens first or the units first — the whole method rests on starting with the tens, so hold that thought for Watch and Notice.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Watch and Notice ~11 mins

We will work these on the board one at a time, so only one sum is in focus at a moment. Watch the bus-stop bracket as we share the biggest place first, then work down through the columns. Notice what happens each time something is left over.

Teacher Notes

Work each one live on the bracket, keeping only the current sum in focus. Start every one with the biggest place, not the units.

84 ÷ 4: the clean case, no carrying or zero. 8 tens share as 2 tens each, 4 units as 1 each, answer 21.

96 ÷ 6: 9 tens give 1 ten each with 3 tens left over. Pause here, quiet think, then take together where the 3 leftover tens go. They carry down: 30 joins 6 units to make 36, shared by 6 is 6, answer 16.

372 ÷ 3: three places, keep the running answer visible. 3 hundreds give 1 each; 7 tens give 2 each with 1 ten over; that 10 joins 2 units to make 12, shared by 3 is 4, answer 124.

420 ÷ 4: the key beat, give it extra dwell. 4 hundreds give 1 each. Ask can 2 tens be shared by 4, let them say no, then write 0 in the tens. Carry the 2 tens down: 20 shared by 4 is 5, answer 105. Skipping the 0 gives the wrong 15.

95 ÷ 4: the remainder case. 9 tens give 2 each with 1 ten over; 10 joins 5 units to make 15, shared by 4 is 3 with 3 units left. Those 3 cannot split further, so write 23 r3 and say r means remainder.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Try It Together ~9 mins

We work four divisions together, each one a step harder than the last:

68 ÷ 4 — a clean carry from the tens.
78 ÷ 6 — a bigger leftover to carry.
255 ÷ 5 — a three-digit number.
615 ÷ 5 — the leftover has to be carried twice.

The first one is on screen. Press Step through and the board works 68 ÷ 4 one place at a time, so the class can call out each place before it appears. Working shows or hides the written lines beside it, so you can hide them, ask for the answer, then show them to check.

The other three are worked on the board in the same order, with a different pupil up for each.

Key point Share the biggest place first every time, then carry any leftover down into the next column.

Share the tens, then carry into the units

Teacher Notes

This round is for talking it through together. Pupils take turns at the board and the class agrees or corrects out loud.

The two buttons on the bus-stop panel are yours to drive. Step through reveals the division one place at a time, so ask the class for each place before it appears. Working hides or shows the written lines; hiding them first and showing them after the class commits is the useful order.

The interactive drives the first number only, 68 divided by 4. The other three are worked on the board. Rotate four pupils.

68 ÷ 4: 6 tens give 1 ten each, 2 tens carry to make 28, so 17.
78 ÷ 6: 7 tens give 1 ten each, 1 ten carries to make 18, so 13.
255 ÷ 5: 2 hundreds cannot be shared, so carry to 25 tens, 5 tens each, then 5 units give 1 each, so 51.
615 ÷ 5: 6 hundreds give 1 each, 1 hundred carries to make 11 tens, 2 tens each with 1 ten carrying to make 15 units, 3 each, so 123.

+15 XP

4 - Work It in Your Copy ~3 mins

COPYBOOK MOMENT

In your maths copy, work these two divisions, setting out each step from the left. Write any remainder at the end after r.

96 ÷ 4
97 ÷ 4

Share the biggest place first each time, and carry any leftover down to the next column before you share again. The second one does not share evenly, so it leaves a remainder.

Teacher Notes

Walk the room glancing at whether pupils start from the left and line the carried digit up correctly — this is whole-class copybook practice, not marking. Watch for anyone starting from the units. Expected answers: 96 ÷ 4 = 24 (exact); 97 ÷ 4 = 24 r1 — the extra unit is the remainder.

+10 XP

5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Today we solve these division problems from around town together: 48 medals shared into 4 boxes; then €92 shared between 4 friends; then 246 steps split over 3 days; then 365 cans packed into 5 crates. The last two are three-digit numbers. Read the words carefully to spot that each one means sharing equally.

Division problems around town

Teacher Notes

These are the practice questions — pupils take turns at the board, check each answer, and the class confirms before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

48 ÷ 4 = 12 — clean, no carry.
92 ÷ 4 = 23 — 9 tens carry 1 ten down.
246 ÷ 3 = 82 — 2 hundreds will not share; carry to the tens.
365 ÷ 5 = 73 — 3 hundreds carry to the tens (36 tens), then units.

Ask pupils to name the operation from the story words before working each — shared into and split over both signal division.

+15 XP

Pupil practice

Module 2 · The Four Operations: Mental and Written Number

Lesson 28 · Dividing 2- and 3-digit Numbers by 1 Digit

Download Activity Book page (PDF)

123learn · Online learning platform

Unlock the full learning experience

You're previewing this lesson. Get full access to this lesson and hundreds more — each one ready to teach, with interactive activities, printable resources and pupil progress tracking built in.

Hundreds of curriculum-aligned lessons

Interactive activities in every lesson

Printable resources & progress tracking

Get started

Copyright Notice
This lesson is copyright of Coding Ireland 2017 - 2025. Unauthorised use, copying or distribution is not allowed.

Teacher Class Feed

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

2 - Watch and Notice ~11 mins

3 - Try It Together ~9 mins

Share the tens, then carry into the units

4 - Work It in Your Copy ~3 mins

5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Division problems around town

Unlock the full learning experience

XP