This lesson helps your students become confident mathematicians when it comes to representing fractions visually in a variety of ways. Use this lesson as a pre-lesson to Fraction Hunt or teach it independently.
This lesson can be used as a pre-lesson for the Fraction Huntlesson plan.
Objectives
Academic
Students will be able to identify and write fractions based on things they observe in everyday life.
Language
Students will be able to explain the structure of a fraction and various fraction visual representations with sentence stems and peer support.
Introduction
(4 minutes)
Explain to students that an integer is a whole number. Ask them what they think the numbers in between integers are called. Allow students to brainstorm with a partner to activate their background knowledge. Guide students to discover the concept that there are parts of whole numbers that are called fractions. Invite students to share what they discussed with their partners and record their ideas on a piece of chart paper.
Elaborate that fractions are defined as numbers that are not whole numbers or integers. Explain that a fraction is a part of a whole number. Tell students that the word "part" means the opposite of the word "whole." Part of something is just some of it but the word whole means all of it. Show examples of the meaning of "part" vs. "whole" using complete sentences and images (e.g., "I ate part of my sandwich, not the whole thing," "Part of my family has brown eyes," "Maya has a whole cake, but she wants to share part of it with her friends.").