After finishing division, it’s time to move on to my fraction unit. With so many great resources available, it can be hard to pick and choose what works for your classroom. It can also be a challenge to determine how to incorporate all of your resources. In this series, I share my personal lesson plans […]
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Teaching students to multiply fractions by a whole number doesn’t have to be terrible! When you throw the terms “multiply” and “fractions” in the same standard, it can sound a bit daunting. Fortunately, if students have a sound understanding of multiplication and fractions, this is somewhat natural for students. This post includes some of my
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Adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators typically isn’t introduced until fifth grade, so this concept isn’t too difficult for fourth graders. The most common mistake is for students to add or subtract the denominator, because they aren’t thinking about the meaning of the fraction. Fractions greater than one can also cause a challenge when
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This post includes some of my favorite lessons for teaching students to compare fractions with strategies such as: common numerator, common denominator, benchmark numbers, the missing piece, and equivalent fractions. The goal of the lessons is to help students develop concepts of relative fraction sizes. These conceptual lessons should be taught BEFORE students learn tricks
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In my Fraction Unit there is a heavy emphasis on equivalent fractions. As students develop their fraction number sense, they typically come to the realization that some same-size fractions have different names. This gives a natural transition to teaching equivalent fractions. Before teaching the procedure of multiplying the numerator and denominator by the same number,
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This post highlights four of my favorite lessons for teaching fractions on a number line. These are lessons I use with my fourth grade students. When I was teaching third grade, I used very similar lessons and incorporated a bit more practice. You can read more about third grade fractions here. You can find the
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In this post I’ve shared some of my favorite lessons for teaching fraction concepts. These lessons are designed to introduce fractions in a conceptual and meaningful way that doesn’t overly rely on rules or procedures. Most of these teaching fractions lessons can be used for both third and fourth grade students. While many of the
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Last week when my students walked in the classroom and saw the escape boxes set-up, they started bubbling with excitement. I was asked no less than 100 times, “Are we going to do an escape today?”. I let the suspense build until they just about couldn’t take it anymore, and then I affirmed that we
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It’s hard to think of a math concept more important to upper elementary students than teaching fractions. Unfortunately, many students, even adults, have a difficult time understanding fractions. For many students, fractions are where they begin to struggle with math. The concept of fractions seem strange and contradictory when compared to their early work with
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Several years ago, I used my Christmas Geometry Project as a multi-day math project before Christmas break. When I changed grade levels, I wasn’t been able to use the activity, because I hadn’t taught geometry. I LOVED the math project so much that I turned the Geometry Project into a new Christmas Fraction Project. After I
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