Early Fraction Fun

We've been using The Teacher Studio's Hands on Fraction Bundle to start our fraction unit (since Math in Focus has us start with adding and subtraction fractions!)

All pictures are examples of lessons from this unit from my classroom use. Credit is given to The Teacher Studio for these ideas. If you are not following The Teacher Studio-well, why not? ;)

We started with dividing shapes into equal parts. Some were more successful then others! :)

After this activity, we debriefed, and had a discussion.

I've been trying to use my SMART Board more (especially now that our licenses have been renewed #teacherpolitics), so I created some companions to go along with these lessons.

I had them break into 2s and 3s to discuss what they noticed, and then write it on the board. We talked about each one (included the imprecise vocab!), which led into our next discussion...

They all agreed on their answers!

The next day, we started talking about halves and fourths (and defending your answers!). This has been my favorite activity of the pack so far.

I then had the kids split up into yes's and no's. I put two chairs in front of the board, and had kids come up to state their reasons.

After each student went, I asked if anyone wanted to switch their answers. They were very stubborn!

Until one friend....

We did manage to convince the last two holdouts :)

Using that as a springboard, I created some extra slides, to talk about equal parts.

I had them write their answers on post-it notes, and attach  it to the whiteboard on a chart I had quickly done up.

We did the same thing for the next slide.

Success! They all got the answers right for these.

No's for slide 1

Yes' for slide 2

We do need some help with our explanations...something to work on!

Now came the ultimate test-can they shade half a shape?

We shared our ways (and some were more creative than others)

and I also went over some unusual ways to shade...they weren't fooled :)

I'm loving how they are doing so far with this unit. We are still in the early days, but the kids haven't realized that we've been working with fractions (until I told them today for some vocab!)

I will admit that I was on the fence about buying this unit...but I'm really glad that I did. I would highly recommend this unit to anyone who wants to learn fractions in a fun, hands on way.

I can't wait to see what my kids do next!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn