To prepare for this activity each student will need several different square pieces of paper. I like to have different colors. In this picture, I used black as one whole. Then students can fold the blue piece in half. Each of these pieces represents one-half. The pink piece was folded in half, and then in half again. These represent one-fourth. 

The act of folding and cutting is powerful, because it helps reinforce that one-fourth is half of one-half, one-eighth is half of one-fourth, etc. 

For example, you could simply draw an image on the board, like the one here, and ask students what they notice about the drawing.

If students are stuck for ideas, prompts like these could help get the conversation started:

• What equations could we write to represent this drawing?
• How are these circles the same and different?

If you own my Math Conversations number talk resources, you’ll also find some great fraction talk slides in there.

Think of all the possiblities that students might come up with for this question. Maybe it represents 8 groups of one-fourth.

Maybe it represents two wholes and 8 groups of three-fourths.

When we start looking at how students might group the circles to add them together, there are loads of different options.

The post Five Simple Activities to Help Your Students Build Fraction Sense appeared first on Shelley Gray.

The post Introducing Fractions With Picture Books – Here is a List to Help You appeared first on Shelley Gray.

Is it possible to go from “I don’t get this,” to “Can we learn more about fractions today?!” Fractions don’t have to be boring! By helping our students understand where fractions are used in real-life and giving them opportunities to be successful, we can transform learning about fractions from boring to fun!

We Like What We’re Good At

It’s understandable that we spend more time doing things we enjoy. It also makes sense that we perform better at the things we have more experience with. Therefore, we end up getting more experience with things we enjoy and are already confident with.

It takes real effort to give time and energy to things we struggle with or are not interested in. When we perceive ourselves as not a “(insert hard thing here)” person, this becomes even more difficult. Many students dread or shut down during math time because they don’t feel like they are a “math person.” But we can change this by giving them the experience they need to feel comfortable and confident.

Fractions in Real Life

Finding fractions in real life is a great first step toward a positive relationship with fractions. They are all around us! Try having a whole class discussion about where fractions can be found in real life. Think about:

• measuring cups while cooking
• half a basketball court
• quarters of an hour on a clock
• discounts (ex. half price) while shopping
• the fuel gauge on a vehicle

How many examples of fractions in real life can your class find?

Related: “Why Do We Have to Learn This?” Boosting Engagement With Real-Life Math

 Other Fun Activities to Make Fractions Relevant

Your Age In Fractions

Help students calculate their age as a fraction. Most kids can tell you they are eight and a half. What does that really mean? Can they figure out their age in twelfths?

To help students visualize their age as twelfths, have them draw a simple clock. Write each month of the year next to each number on the clock, starting with their birth month at 12. In the example below, Risa was born in March, so she wrote March above the 12, followed by April, May, and so on. In March, Risa turned 8, but in May, Risa can say she’s eight and two-twelfths!

By helping students relate fractions to themselves in a fun and personal way, we can encourage them to feel more comfortable and confident.

Explore with Fractions

The value of learning through exploration is sometimes forgotten as students get older and as we push ourselves to “cover the curriculum” before the end of the year. But what good is covering the curriculum if it’s not also understood? Allowing students time to play with fractions in several different ways can give them the low-risk experiences they need to build understanding and familiarity before they begin learning more difficult concepts.

Try providing students with measuring cups and rice to explore fractions. How many fourths are in one-half? How many halves are in one whole? This makes fractions visual and real, rather than abstract.

Students can also explore fractions with manipulatives such as Lego, base ten blocks, bingo chips, pattern blocks, geoboards, grid paper, etc. What other materials do you have in your classroom that students could use to represent fractions?

Fractions In Sports

If you have some sports lovers in your classroom, this can be a great opportunity to incorporate some high-interest activities. Have your students brainstorm ways that fractions can be related to sports.

• Look at stats from a recent game. What fraction of the goals/runs/touchdowns/baskets were scored by each team?
• What fraction of the players on a team are rookies?
• What fraction of the teams in the league are from Canada? What fraction of the teams are from the USA?
• If it’s an Olympic year, what fraction of the medals were won by each country?

Talking About Fractions

Encourage students to be curious as they play and work with fractions. Ask students to share what they notice or what patterns they observe as they are working with different manipulatives. Ask open-ended questions like:

• “What do you notice?”
• “What fractions do you see?”
• “What happens if you put these together?”
• “How many different fractions can you make?”

Sentence starters like the ones shown below can provide an opportunity for students to be flexible in their thinking and discuss their strategies and thinking with the class.

What Do You Know About Fractions?

An informal assessment can be as easy as asking students to tell you everything they know about a topic. If you asked your students to tell you everything they know about fractions, what would they say? To do this, you can give each student a sticky note and have them each write something they know. Or give students a blank sheet of paper and ask them to fill it with things they know about fractions. {Download this template for free HERE.}

Practice Often

If possible, continue to work with fractions throughout the year instead of for one month while you focus on the fractions unit in your math curriculum. Daily fraction practice can help continue to reinforce important fraction concepts even after you move on to another math unit. Focus on seeing fractions in many different ways, for example, on a number line, as objects in a set, or as parts of a whole.

Mystery Fractions are another engaging way to reinforce fraction concepts daily. Some teachers like to use these as a warm-up at the beginning of class, while others assign them digitally as a task for the day.

Another great way to help students build their fraction understanding is to allow students to work independently at their own pace. This way students are always appropriately challenged and moving along at a pace that works for them. The Fraction Station can be used in addition to your regular curriculum to allow students to practice working with fractions at their own pace.

Help Students Connect Concrete Experiences to More Abstract Experiences

When exploring with fractions, it’s essential to help students make connections between concrete experiences and more abstract representations. We can help students build these connections by having them represent fractions in many different ways. For example, when exploring fractions with blocks, focus on how they can be represented in different ways including as written fractions (abstract). More information on using the Concrete Representational Abstract Model for teaching math can be found HERE.

I hope this post has helped you brainstorm ways that you can make fractions fun and relevant in your classroom! I’d love to hear how you make fractions meaningful for your students! Leave your ideas in the comments below

The post Fun With Fractions: How to Help Your Students Love Learning About Fractions appeared first on Shelley Gray.

So how do we effectively teach this? We use a number line.

A number line is an important tool that should be used frequently throughout your fractions unit.

Some advantages of using a number line to teach fractions include:

• Number lines help students see fractions as not only parts of a whole or parts or parts of a set, but as a part of distance or a part of time.
• Number lines help us compare fractions.
• Number lines help us find equivalent fractions.
• Number lines help us see a fraction as a number that comes between two whole numbers.
• Number lines are an effective alternative to traditional visual models that we use to teach fractions.

How do we teach fractions on a number line?

Below I have included a full lesson plan for teaching fractions on a number line. This is intended as an introductory lesson for this concept. I have also included a printable version of this lesson plan for you. Download it HERE.

LESSON PLAN – INTRODUCING FRACTIONS ON A NUMBER LINE

Overview:

In this lesson students will be introduced to the idea of fractions on a number line. This lesson only uses halves, thirds, and fourths as a starting point for this concept.

Objective:

• Students will see fractions as numbers on a number line.
• Students will represent fractions on a number line.
• Students will use a number line to solve basic problems involving fractions.

Materials:

• Fraction bars (one copy for each student) and Fractions on a Number Line activity sheets – Download HERE.
• Sticky notes (one for each student)
• *Optional for Extension* Fractions on a Number Line Task Cards – Find them HERE.

Activating Prior Knowledge – Spend a few minutes reviewing what students already know (3 minutes).

By this time you have spent time teaching students about fractions as part of a whole or part of a set. Review this concept:

• Show students a rectangular piece of paper. Say, “We have worked with fractions as part of a whole. Here I have one whole piece of paper. If I cut this piece of paper in half, what does each piece represent?” Cut the paper in half. Students should identify that each piece represents one-half of the whole.
• Say, “What if I cut each piece in half again?” Cut each half in half again so that you have four pieces. Ask, “Now what fraction of the whole does each piece represent?” Students should identify that each piece represents one-fourth.

Acquiring New Knowledge – In this part of the lesson our students will acquire new knowledge. Let’s help them see the number line as a tool to use with fractions. (8 minutes)

• Say, “We know that we can divide any whole into parts. But what if we want to divide something into parts that we can’t touch? What about dividing one hour into parts? How could we represent one hour?” Let students come up with ways to represent one hour. Write their responses down on the whiteboard. Guide them towards using a horizontal line to represent one hour. You may have to ask, “What about a line? Could we use a line to represent one hour?”
• Write a large horizontal line on the whiteboard. Make one mark at the beginning and one mark at the end. Ask your students, “If this entire line represents one hour, what should I write beside these notches?” Guide students toward answering “0” for the line at the beginning and “1” for the line at the end.

• Say, “Suppose that we play soccer for the first half of the hour, and then we play baseball for the last half of the hour. How could we represent that on this line?” Help students see that we could divide the line in half as shown below.

• Ask, “If we wanted to write the fraction “one-half” on this number line, where would we write it?” Students should be able to identify that if we wanted to write one-half, we would write it at the middle point as shown below.

• Explain that each half of the number line represents one-half of the hour.
• Do another example using fourths of an hour. Have the students generate the ideas for how the hour could be divided into fourths.

NEXT EXAMPLE – Let’s try another example with distance rather than time.

• Say, “Let’s suppose that we want to divide one kilometer into parts. Could we use a number line to represent one kilometer?” Guide students toward the idea that we can use a similar number line, with 0 at one end and 1 at the other to represent one whole kilometer.

• “Let’s suppose that there is a girl named Lucy who is running one kilometer. So far she has run one-half of a kilometer. How could we show the distance that she has run on the number line?” Students should identify that we can divide the number line in half and show Lucy at the one-half point.

• “What if Lucy has run two-thirds of the kilometer? How could we show that?” Guide students toward the idea that we can divide the number line into three equal parts and show Lucy at the two-thirds point.

• As a class, do another example using fourths of a kilometer. Have the students generate the ideas for how the hour could be divided into fourths.

Guided Practice – In this part of the lesson students will work with fraction bars to enhance their understanding. (25 minutes)

• Give each student a set of fraction bars and the number line activity sheets.

• Work together to label the fraction pieces on the fraction bar sheet. Have students carefully cut out their fraction bars.
• Have students work with a partner to complete their activity sheets. As they work, circulate the room and ask questions to check for understanding. Your questions might start with:
  • “How do you know that …”
  • “What if…”
  • “How can you tell if…”
  • “What do these pieces represent?”
• Circulating the room as students work will also serve as your assessment of this lesson. This will help to drive your future instruction. Do your students understand this concept? Are they ready to move on to the next part of fractions on a number line? Is re-teaching required? Do you need to work with small groups on any of the concepts?

Wrap-Up – Let’s consolidate learning and reinforce the fact that fractions are numbers that can be represented on a number line.  (3 minutes)

• Draw a giant number line on the whiteboard. Label it with 0 and 1.
• Hand a sticky note to each student. Ask students to write a fraction between 0 and 1 on their sticky note.
• In groups, have students approach the board and place the sticky note on the number line where they think it should go.
• This is another opportunity to check for any misunderstandings.

I’ve made this entire lesson plan available to you in a PDF version. If you haven’t already done so, download it here.

FOLLOW UP

These task cards for Fractions on a Number Line are a great way to reinforce this skill in a variety of different ways in order to maximize understanding. Get them HERE.

NEXT STEPS

Now that students have been introduced to the concept of fractions on a number line, we can keep reinforcing this concept. In upcoming lessons, be sure to focus on the following concepts:

• ordering fractions on a number line
• comparing fractions on a number line
• finding equivalent fractions using number lines
• problem solving with fractions using a number line
• relating number lines to other visual models (example: representing a fraction as a part of a whole circle, and as a part of a set, and on a number line)

If this all feels overwhelming to you, and you would like the planning done for you, you’ll want to check out The Fraction Station. This is a self-paced, student-centered approach to teaching fractions. Students work at their own pace to complete the levels, each of which includes independent activity sheets and hands-on activities. Check out the third and fourth grade fraction stations here.

The post How to Teach Fractions on a Number Line (with a free lesson plan) appeared first on Shelley Gray.

Now that summer is here, I wanted to share a fraction sundae project that I did awhile back with my grade 3 students. I got the idea from this Scholastic book, “Math Art” that has tons of great ideas for integrating art with math.

I used the templates from the book for the bowl and the scoops, and the kids decided which kinds of ice cream they would include in the bowl. Of course the most important part is the labeling, which is where the fractions come in. In case it is hard to see in the picture, the kids write fractions for the scoops of ice cream. So, if there are 8 scoops altogether, and a student put 3 scoops of mint chocolate chip, she writes “3/8 mint chocolate chip.” The kids loved this project and they made a fantastic bulletin board display!

Looking for more fun ways to practice fractions in your classroom?

Number lines are an essential tool for teaching fractions. Number lines help students understand fractions as numbers rather than simply “pieces of pizza.” This set of task cards will help your students practice fractions on a number line in a variety of different ways.

More Resources for Teaching Fractions:

The post Fraction Sundaes appeared first on Shelley Gray.