Today we continued discussing fractions. I wanted to bring in more visual models of fractions. Students were given a sticky note with 1/2 and asked to place it on a number line labeled 0-4. The picture below shows where the various groups decided to place it. You can see students labeled the 2, 1 and 1/2, as well as 1/2.
After asking questions about number lines and fractions, we began to make a list of what we knew and consequently what we could figure out. You will see this discussion created statements that were so powerful. Students now know that fractions are PORTIONS of a WHOLE. They also decide that 1/2 would be between 0 and 1.
Later I asked the students to decide which fraction was larger 1/3 or 3/4. Again students used number line and area models to defend their answers. We discovered that thirds are greater than fourths but that 3/4 is closer to a whole and therefore larger than 1/4.
We did this same thing with 3/12 and 3/6 in which students discovered they could half sixths and when they did they created twelfths. They also confirmed that the more pieces the smaller the quantity. So ask your child what he or she knows about fractions!
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