Long Division Graphic Organizer – Steps, Work and Check

How it works

Long division repeats four small steps until the digits run out. This long division graphic organizer gives each step a row, so a student who loses the thread can see which step comes next.

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One column for each digit of the answer

Each time round the four steps gives one digit of the quotient. A three-digit number divided by a one-digit number takes three rounds at most, so the opening chart has three columns. When the first digit is too small to divide, start with the first two digits and leave the last column empty.

Check after every subtraction

What is left after a subtraction has to be smaller than the divisor. If it is not, the digit just written in the quotient is too small.

A zero in the quotient is still a round: write the 0, then bring down the next digit.
On lined paper, turn the page sideways. The lines become columns that keep the digits in their places.

Questions and answers

What are the steps of long division?

Divide, multiply, subtract and bring down. Divide the first digits of the dividend by the divisor, multiply the answer by the divisor, subtract, then bring down the next digit. Repeat until no digits are left.

How do you check a long division answer?

Multiply the quotient by the divisor, then add the remainder. The result should equal the dividend. For 857 ÷ 6 = 142 remainder 5, the check is 142 × 6 = 852, and 852 + 5 = 857.

What is the difference between a dividend and a divisor?

The dividend is the number being divided, and the divisor is the number it is divided by. The result is the quotient. In 857 ÷ 6, the dividend is 857 and the divisor is 6.

What grade do students learn long division?

In the Common Core standards, 4th graders divide numbers of up to four digits by one-digit numbers and 5th graders by two-digit numbers, using place value strategies. Dividing multi-digit numbers fluently with the standard algorithm is a 6th grade standard.

All 10 organizers

Step by step 3

Long division graphic organizer: divide, multiply, subtract, bring down A line for the problem over a chart: the four steps down the side and a column for each time round them. Lines for the quotient and the remainder, with the check printed underneath.
Sideways chart with four rounds The same chart on a landscape page with a fourth column, for a four-digit dividend.
The steps in my own words Five numbered boxes joined by arrows: divide, multiply, subtract, bring down, repeat. Each asks one question about the step.

Work and check 5

Estimate first, then divide Round the numbers and estimate before dividing. A box at the foot asks whether the answer is close to the estimate.
Two-digit divisor: multiples first A box to list the first nine multiples of the divisor beside an open box for the work, with a check at the foot.
What does the remainder mean? Word problem frame For a division word problem: the problem in your words, the work, what the remainder means in the story and the answer in a sentence.
Work and check frame A line for the problem, a wide open box for the work, then a box for the answer beside an open box for the check.
Work and check, two to a page Two half sheets with a cut line between them, each with a line for the problem and boxes for the work, the answer and the check.

The words 1

Words of long division: dividend, divisor, quotient, remainder A box for each word: say what it means and where it is written in a long division problem.

Filled-in sample 1

Sample long division organizer, filled in: 857 ÷ 6 The opening chart done for 857 ÷ 6, three times round the steps. The line under the chart gives the answer and its check.