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Contributor: Ashley Nail Murphy. Lesson ID: 14170
Bears love blueberries! They eat thousands a day! Use multiples of 1,000 to multiply and find out just how many blueberries a group of bears can eat in one day!
It’s summertime in Pisgah National Forest, and Rose, a volunteer park ranger, is watching some hungry black bears. These bears munch on thousands of blueberries every day to prepare for winter!
Rose’s job is to observe the bears and estimate how many blueberries are eaten daily. She keeps a log of what she sees.
After a long day of watching the bears, Rose looks over her log. Rose needs to find out how many blueberries the family of bears have eaten.
This data is important for the park rangers to make sure the bears are healthy and can find enough food before winter.
Look at Rose’s notebook.
Look at the first part of Rose’s log.
5 bears eat about 1,000 blueberries each.
Rose draws a picture to help organize her data.
You have equal groups! Each bear ate the same amount of blueberries.
Since you have equal groups, you can help Rose find the total by multiplying.
5 x 1,000
This also means you have 5 thousands, which would look like this.
1,000 + 1,000 + 1,000 + 1,000 + 1,000
When you add each group of thousands, you get 5,000!
1,000 + 1,000 + 1,000 + 1,000 + 1,000 = 5,000
So 5 x 1,000 = 5,000.
This means that five bears ate a total of 5,000 blueberries in one day!
Now, look at the next part of Rose’s log.
2 bears eat about 3,000 blueberries each.
Draw a picture to organize the data.
Once again, there are equal groups! So, you can help Rose by multiplying!
However, this time the bears ate a lot more blueberries!
To find the total, you need to multiply by 3,000. That might seem tricky at first, but let’s break it down.
3,000 is a multiple of 1,000.
That means 3,000 is the number you get after multiplying 1,000 by a whole number.
Think about it: 3,000 = 3 x 1,000.
Look at the picture again.
There are 2 equal groups of 3,000. Make this into a multiplication expression.
2 x 3,000 =
Break down 3,000 as 3 x 1,000 to create this expression.
2 x (3 x 1,000) =
Multiply the first two factors.
2 x 3 x 1,000 = 6 x 1,000
Now, you have an easier expression to solve!
Remember, 6 x 1,000 is six thousands.
1,000 + 1,000 + 1,000 + 1,000 + 1,000 + 1,000 = 6,000
6 x 1,000 = 6,000
So, two bears ate a total of 6,000 blueberries in one day!
For the last part of Rose’s log, try thinking through the steps on your own. Click on the steps below to check your thinking.
Great job helping Rose with her work!
Now, it is time for you to practice multiplying by multiples of 1,000. But first, consider these questions.
Head to the Got It? section to practice!
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