Round to the Nearest Ten

This is Lola. Her mom just went shopping for healthy food. She brought home apples, blueberries, grapes, and raspberries. Yum!

Lola’s mom bought exactly 12 apples, 68 blueberries, 75 grapes, and 45 raspberries. Her brother just called on the phone and wants to know about how many apples, blue berries, grapes, and raspberries their mom bought. Lola needs help rounding these numbers to the nearest 10.

Rounding to the nearest 10 is a kind of estimation. We can round using benchmark numbers. Remember, benchmark numbers are numbers that are easy to use. Because we’re rounding to the nearest 10, we can use multiples of 10 as our benchmark numbers: 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100.

There are 12 apples in this bowl. Can you help Lola round 12 to the nearest 10?

Let’s use a number line to help! Here is the number 12, and here are our benchmark numbers. What benchmark number is closest to 12?

That’s right! 10 is closest to 12. Lola can tell her brother that there are about 10 apples in the bowl!

There are 68 blueberries in this bowl. Yum! Let’s help Lola round 68 to the nearest 10.

Here is 68 on the number line. Remember, benchmark numbers will help us easily round to the nearest ten. What benchmark number is closest to 68?

Very good! 70 is the closest benchmark number to 68! There are about 70 blueberries in this bowl.

Now let’s look at the 75 grapes. Can you help Lola round 75 to the nearest ten? Let’s try it!

First, find 75 on the number line. Do you see it?

Yes! There is 75. Next, we need to round 75 to the nearest 10. What benchmark number is 75 closest to?

Hmmm, 75 is in the middle of 70 and 80. It’s important to know that when a number ends in 5, we always round up to the larger benchmark number. That means we will round 75 up to 80. There are about 80 grapes in this bowl. Great job!

Here is the last bowl of fruit. Lola’s mom bought 45 raspberries. Can you round the number 45 to the nearest 10?

Here is 45 and here are our benchmark numbers. Uh oh! 45 ends with the number 5. Do you remember what to do?

Yes! If a number ends in 5, we always round up to the larger benchmark number. 45 rounded to the nearest 10 is 50. Great job!

Now Lola can tell her brother that there are about 10 apples, 70 blueberries, 80 grapes, and 50 raspberries. Thank you for helping Lola round numbers to the nearest 10 today!