Fraction Shading (January 31 through February 4)

What is a fraction? A fraction is a way of representing division of a whole into parts.  It has the form of numerator over denominator N/D, where the numerator is the number of parts chosen and the denominator is the total number of equal parts.

We looked at using circles and squares as the "whole" and gave the children many fractions to shade in.  First, they had to cut the whole into the denominator's equal parts (easy for fourths, and eights, not so easy for thirds and fifths).  When they got the hang of thirds, they were easily able to do sixths and ninths by cuting each third into two or three parts, respectively.

After they finish the attached pdf, have them create their own fractions and come up with creative ways of both cutting the wholes into equal parts and shading in the number of parts chosen.