Introducing Fractions- 3rd Grade
This week, we began to introduce fractions to the students. My initial thought when talking with the cooperating teacher before we began was to use the example of a pizza pie. I remember learning fractions in the concept of circles so that was the first thing that came to mind. Almost immediately, the teacher turned to me and said "Although that sounds fun in theory, my advice is that you never introduce fractions by using circles. When it comes to partitioning a circle, it is far more difficult to do and for the students to comprehend than using a rectangle/ square model." This was something that really resonated with me because I would have never thought about it that way if it weren't for her telling me. I liked the idea of the pizza because it is something that is relative to them and engaging. In order to keep it fun and engaging to the students, I decided to use the rectangle models in the context of candy bars. The cooperating teacher had them use manipulatives that she created to help them understand fractions as equal parts of a whole by folding and labeling the parts. Below I have provided some examples of the strips we made as a class. If I were to conduct a follow up lesson for this concept, I would bring in a Hershey bar for each student and have them outline the wrapped chocolate on a piece of paper and then ask them to partition it into different fractional pieces (thirds, fourths, sixths, eighths...etc...). This would allow the reinforcement of practicing fractions as well as giving them a fun and engaging way to do it themselves with a fun treat at the end.
Standards-
3 NF 1-Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b.
3 NF 3- Explain equivalence of fractions in special cases, and compare fractions by reasoning about their size.
3 G 2- Partition shapes into parts with equal areas. Express the area of each part as a unit fraction of the whole. For example, partition a shape into 4 parts with equal area, and describe the area of each part as 1/4 of the area of the shape
WOW!
ReplyDeleteThis seems so fun, and it keeps the students engaged and reinforce skills!
The cooperating teacher had them use manipulatives that she created to help them understand fractions as equal parts of a whole by folding and labeling the parts. Below I have provided some examples of the strips we made as a class. If I were to conduct a follow-up lesson for this concept, I would bring in a Hershey bar for each student and have them outline the wrapped chocolate on a piece of paper and then ask them to partition it into different fractional parts (thirds, fourths, sixths, eighths...etc...). This would allow the reinforcement of practicing fractions and give them a fun and engaging way to do it themselves with a fun treat at the end.
This is for the third grade, and I wonder where you came up with such a fun way to practice the fractions with the students; I'd like to try this with other grades.
Thank you for sharing what your teacher had imparted upon you! In fourth grade we use circles often, but knowing that third graders may not be used to seeing them in that form is vital. We can continue to use circles as we go, but starting with more familiar shapes will help them approach fractions for the first time in a while and access any background knowledge they remember from third grade.
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