Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Funky Fractions!

Welcome Back Friends!

Last week's math class was all about fractions, which happened to be one of my least favourite units unfortunately. Whenever we were to start this unit in school, I definitely was not the happiest. I would always try to make the situation a little more pleasant by thinking of these mathematical expressions as delicious pizza. Although this wasn't my favourite unit growing up, I genuinely enjoyed the activities we completed in that week's class. I started to see a more interactive and fun side to this unit that I will be sure to pass along to my students as a teacher.

That week, my partner Teresa and I had our learning activity presentation. Our theme was based around the title "Equivalent Fractions" where we planned out a lesson and activity to teach the concept of equivalent fractions to a Grade 4 class. The overall objective was for students to demonstrate an understanding of counting by fractional amounts (in terms of identifying equivalent fractions). Our activity involved using a folding paper technique that would serve as a guiding tool when working with counting and equalizing fractions.

Here is a picture of the folding paper we demonstrated in front of the class, and had each student prepare:

Photo taken by Yasmine Khaizaran

The activity works by having each student pull out a blank sheet of paper. We numbered each student as either group 1 or 2. Group 1 was to take the sheet of paper and fold it right in half. We then asked the group how many parts were in the sheet of paper (or visualize as a pizza), and then how many parts would we need to shade in with a pencil/pen if we wanted to make the sheet even. They would have had to shade in 1 part out of 2. Group 2 was to do the same with their sheet of paper, except fold it twice so that there are 4 equal parts. They were also to shade in 2 parts in order to make both folding papers equal. We demonstrated on the board that Group 1's sheet was expressed as 1/2 and Group 2's sheet was expressed as 2/4. Both sets of fractions are equivalent, or the same.

Teresa and I found that this technique would work well as a visual for the students in order for them to get a better understanding of how whole numbers are divided into fractions. It was also a great technique to use for a group of grade 4's who need a refresher on fractions, and advance them further by expressing what equivalent fractions look like. The final task required for our activity was for the students to work in pairs or groups and complete a worksheet on equivalent fractions using the folding paper method as a guiding tool.

One interesting learning technique we looked at in class was using children's literature to teach math. We read one storybook called "The Hershey's Milk Chocolate Fractions Book" by Jerry Pallotta and Rob Bolster. This was really enjoyable as well as educational!

Pallotta, J., & Bolster, R. (1999, December 1). [Digital image]. Retrieved October 12, 2016, from http://www.scholastic.com/content5/media/products/92/0439135192_xlg.jpg 

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