This is the time of year in fourth grade where EVERYTHING we do in Math is related to FRACTIONS! As you have noticed I try to use as many hands on activities as possible, and as many visuals as possible too. We wrapped up composing fractions Wednesday of last week and started decomposing them Thursday. We actually got through TWO math lessons Thursday because my kiddos were ROCKING IT!
I wrapped up our composing fractions unit with a word problem and loved seeing the different strategies students used. I LOVE how you can see my two students below different methods and thought processes!
We then played a game of scoot using Holly's Monster Fractions for Big Kids. This was great, because earlier in the week my kiddos wanted to know how to add fractions with unlike denominators. Some of Holly's Scoot cards were perfect for challenging my students with this!
Thursday I started our lesson by providing each student a unifix stick with 10 cubes. I had the colors mixed up and asked the kids to sort their cubes and reorder them on their stick. They were then asked to label their "Ten Stick" using fractions.
Students then shared how they decomposed their "Ten Stick" as I wrote their answers on the board. We discussed the many ways to decompose the fraction 10/10. They LOVED this! I then gave them other fractions to decompose, they ALL wanted to share their answers.
I used this Fraction Practice Pack by CC's Cool School all week for independent practice. I will continue to use it as we move on to mixed numbers.
How cool is this!?! I was talking with one of our third grade teachers after school the other day and spotted this on her window sill. I asked to use it to review benchmark fractions with my students. Isn't it an awesome visual!?!
We are doing this, too! My students are doing such a great job and I feel like we've done so much number sense in the first half of the year that this is really making sense to them. I'm loving it!! Love the 10 sticks- it helps to make decomposing "make sense". That word (decompose) is tripping up a few of mine! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteReal Teachers Learn
Ohh fractions- I love all that you're doing to keep your kiddos engaged and understanding fractions! And where do I find the fraction apple?! I will be on the lookout for that guy now :)
ReplyDeleteXO, Kelly Anne
AppleSlices
Great post Jessica!
ReplyDeleteI love the visuals for composing and decomposing! My sixth graders still struggle with this idea when we get to multiplying and dividing. I hope that within a few years they will have a better grasp because there is so much more of an emphasis in fourth and fifth now. Thanks for posting such great ideas!
ReplyDeleteMichele
Coffee Cups and Lesson Plans