Transparency/Blackline Master
Grade 4
Day 7
Standard 4.NBT.3
Name: ________________________
Date: ________________________
Rounding Reasoning Story Problems
Directions: Solve the following story problems and write an explanation of your thinking
in words. Support your answer using a number line.
1. On a vacation, your family travels 267 miles on the first day, 194 miles on the
second day, and 34 miles on the third day. About how many total miles did they
travel?
2. Several nests of turtle eggs were found on Pine Beach last year. The nests contained
a total of 884 eggs. If 174 of those eggs hatched, about how many did not hatch?
3. We are collecting box top labels for our school. We collected 134 labels in
September and 457 labels in October. Our goal for the first semester is 1,500 labels.
About how many more labels do we need to reach our goal?
4. The Media Specialist estimated that 100 students borrowed books from the Media
Center last week. 19 students borrowed joke books, 42 students borrowed animal
books, 25 students borrowed mysteries, and 14 students borrowed biographies. Did
the Media Specialist make a reasonable estimate? Why or why not?
5. The school cafeteria served three choices for entrees yesterday. 355 students chose
pizza, 247 students chose chicken nuggets, and 489 students chose tacos. About
how many students bought lunch in the school cafeteria yesterday?
Answer Key Grade 4
Day 7
Standard 4.NBT.3
Rounding Reasoning Story Problems
Answer Key
Note: Student answers will vary. Answers below represent one way of thinking (not using traditional
rounding rules, but using numbers that are easily manipulated mentally or that make sense with the
problem). Traditional rounding rules will be taught later. Students should be able to reason about the
answers they get when they round (with written explanations) and support their answers using open
number lines. Number line representations are not included on the answer key since answers will vary.
Check that students’ number line representations match their written explanations.
1. On a vacation, your family travels 267 miles on the first day, 194 miles on the
second day, and 34 miles on the third day. About how many total miles did they
travel?
270 + 200 + 30 = 500 miles
2. Several nests of turtle eggs were found on Pine Beach last year. The nests contained
a total of 884 eggs. If 174 of those eggs hatched, about how many did not hatch?
900 – 200 = 700 eggs
3. We are collecting box top labels for our school. We collected 134 labels in
September and 457 labels in October. Our goal for the first semester is 1,500 labels.
About how many more labels do we need to reach our goal?
150 + 450 = 600 labels collected
1,500 – 600 = 900 labels needed
4. The Media Specialist estimated that 100 students borrowed books from the Media
Center last week. 19 students borrowed joke books, 42 students borrowed animal
books, 25 students borrowed mysteries, and 14 students borrowed biographies. Did
the Media Specialist make a reasonable estimate? Why or why not?
20 + 40 + 25 + 15 = 100 students
Her estimate is reasonable. I rounded each number to a number that was
close to the actual number that I could easily add in my head and got 100.
5. The school cafeteria served three choices for entrees yesterday. 355 students chose
pizza, 247 students chose chicken nuggets, and 489 students chose tacos. About
how many students bought lunch in the school cafeteria yesterday?
350 + 250 + 500 = 1,100 students