Content Area: Math
Goal: To introduce the idea of fractions
Grade Level: 4
EALRs: 1.1.1 Understand the concept of decimals (money) and fractions. W
GLEs: Grade 4
· Interpret fractions as parts of a whole object, number, or set (e.g., half of a medium pizza and half of a large pizza are not equal amounts).
· Symbolically represent parts of a whole or parts of a set with common denominators. [CU]
Objective: Having been given the problem of sharing different numbers of cookies with 4 people, and being demonstrated how to show their work, students will exploring dividing evenly different numbers and be able to write a sentence and talk about why they divided the cookies the way they did.
Materials:
17 cut out cookies per group
3 worksheets to show work on per group
scissors, glue
real cookies for snack to share at very end
Procedure:
1) Gather students at the rug. Say: “I am going to give you a math activity to explore in groups that will involve sharing cookies. Now, here’s the bad news- they aren’t real cookies. We will be using make believe cookies.. (show cookies). Some are different colors, and some might be a little bigger than the others but they are all supposed to be the same size. “
2) “Before explaining what we are doing, let me ask you a question. If I had a group of four children and wanted to split four cookies equally among them- how many cookies would each one get?” (take answers from children).
3) This is exactly what we will be answering but with different numbers of cookies. Let’s take the example of four to show what I want you to do. I will have you show your work on a worksheet (hold up the worksheet) You are to use the circles I have cut as the cookies and cut them up to show how you would share them. You paste them on to this worksheet to show how much each person actually gets. For this problem with four cookies, we decided it would be one cookie per person. How would I show that? (kids answer). That’s right, you would glue one cookie in each box. (Actually glue it to the box to demonstrate). At the bottom there is a question that says “How much did each person get?” How would I answer that for the problem of four cookies?” (kids answer). When you have shared the cookies, you should discuss how to record at the bottom of the sheet how much each person got.
3) “Ok, so this is how it is going to work. You will be in groups of two- but I want you to pretend that you are sharing it among four people total. Each group will get one worksheet per problem to fill out. You will fill out a new one each time you get a new set of cookies to divide up (they are double sided). I have assigned the partners you are working with and will read them off at the end. We just did the problem with four cookies. I want you to do this problem 5 times total with a different number of cookies each time. First with sharing 6 cookies between 4 people. Then with sharing 5 cookies between 4 people. Then 3 cookies, then 2 then 1. What number did I skip? Why? Ok, turn to the person next to you and tell them how many times we are solving this problem and with how many cookies each time.” (Write it on board problems and materials needed).
4) At the end, we will come back together and discuss what you all found out.
5) Questions? Read assigned partners.
6) Kids go and do work for ˝ hour
7) DISCUSSION-10 minutes
How did it go working with partners? What jobs did each of you do? Did you take turns doing different roles or stay with one role?
So, how much did each person get when there were 6 cookies. How would you write that?
Go down the list. Show why you write ˝. The 1 stands for 1 out of 2 parts- draw on board.
For 3 cookies divide by 4 ; ˝ +1/4 = 3/4
Talk about how we will be continuing to work on this…