Transcript Teaching Fractions - spring2012mathclass

Teaching Fractions
You can’t build a house without even
sides
Concepts to remember
• 1. Number Sense
– What does a number mean?
– What does it show
• 2. Part of a whole? part whole process
– Tear papers
– Boys and girls
– Classrooms
Fraction models
• Part of the whole
• Quotient- a way to partition
• Region- the region is the unit
– Think of pizzas
• Length– Think of rulers, floor spaces
• A set
– 16 people, what is 1/4th of that?
How to make sense of the fractions
• Use the words: fourth, half, eighth
• Use whole objects- then break them
• Symbols– Use them with words
Equivalence- the key to doing
operations
• Kids must understand different ways of
expressing numbers
– 8, 2 + 6, 2 x 4, “is the same as”
• Use models as often as possible
– Make them easy
• What you have in the room
• Non standard measures
• Use pictures
– White boards
– Virtual manipulatives
Mixed Numbers
• Use models
– Have them talk about what they see
– Ask the questions….
Adding and subtracting
• It starts with math facts
• It continues with equivalence
– Adding and subtracting help them solve real world
problems
– Make sure they understand reasonable answer
– Common denominators
Have a conversation
• As you converse “visit”
– Have kids write
– Have kids draw
– Draw/ write on the board
Teaching parts of fractions
• Denominator =’s De Name!!!!!!
• Numerator =‘s Number
– Explain the latin
– Show the part of the word
• Proper/Improper- Be a really good actor
– Give 20-40 chances with this
– It makes no sense to the kids
• Use classical Direct Instruction
Use Virtual Manipulatives
• White Boards
• Overhead Projectors
• Have kids draw and manipulate the screens
Make EVERYTHING
• 1. A problem to solve
• 2. Related to the kids lives
– Ask the kids for the problem, you interpret it to
show fractions
Demo
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Demo making problems with the kids
Amanda has 25 people coming to her house.
Five like ice cream.
What part of the groups like ice cream
5/25
Draw that using circles
Draw that using a rectangle.
What did you notice?
Multiplying Fractions
• Tell this to the kids:
– “Don’t ask questions!”
– Top times top
– Bottom times bottom
– Period!
– 2/3 x 4/5 = 8/15