3 Dot Nf Dot 1 More Ideas From Vdw

Ideas Inspired by Teaching Student-Centered

Correct Shares - (K-3, p.257): Show examples and nonexamples of specified fractional parts. Have students identify the wholes that are correctly divided into requested fractional parts and those that are not. For each response, have students explain their reasoning. The activity should be done with a variety of models, including length and set models.

Finding Fairs Shares - (K-3, p.257): Give students models, and have them find fifths or eighths or other fractional parts using their models. (The models should never have fractions written on them.) The activity is especially interesting when different wholes can be designated in the same model. That way, a given fractional part does not get identified with a special shape or color but with the relationship of the part to the designated whole.

More, Less, or Equal to One Whole - (K-3, p.258): Give students a collection of fractional parts (all the same type) and indicate the kind of fractional part they have. Parts can be drawn on a worksheet or physical models can be placed in plastic baggies with an identifying card. For example, if done with Cuisenaire rods or fraction strips, the collection might have seven light green rods/strips with a caption or note indicating "These are eighths." The task is to decide if the collection is less than one whole, equal to one whole, or more than one whole. Students must draw pictures and/or use numbers to explain their answer. They can also tell how close the set is to a complete whole. Several collections constitute a reasonable task.

Graphic Organizers:

Have students complete a Frayer Model (Frayer Model Download Frayer Model) about a fraction with sections of the model labeled "part of a whole," "part of a set," "on a number line," and "related fractions"
Have students compare and contrast different fractions with a Venn diagram Links to an external site.

Good Questions / Tasks for Mathematics:

Have students use pattern blocks or draw pictures to make at least three different designs that are 3/4 yellow or 1/4 red.
Give students different shapes partitioned correctly and incorrectly. Ask students which are examples of a specific fraction.
Give students fractions to draw with different items. For example, tell students that you want them to draw 3/4 of a set of balls that is basketballs.
Use two color counters to develop the concept of sets and fractional parts. Give the students 3 or 4 counters. Ask them to flip the counters and announce the fraction of one of the colors of the given counters. For example, 3 counters flipped yellow and 1 flipped red. The fraction of the yellow counters is 3/4.
Give students a fraction. Ask them to represent the fraction in two different ways.
Using a ten or five frame, have students color in parts to display models of fractions to the fifths and tenths (Tens and Fives Frame Links to an external site.).