Do you know what a fraction is? (ex. 5/8) It's 5 out of 8, right? WRONG! We eventually learn it that way, but it's easier for people to learn fractions as five 1/8th pieces. The top number is called a numerator. A numerator tells you the number of pieces you have. The bottom number is a denominator. The denominator tells you the denomination, or size, of the pieces.
Try identifying other fractions here. Practicing saying "(enter numerator) 1/(enter denominator) pieces" as you try each fraction. It really helps you start saying it automatically. 2/7 becomes two 1/7 pieces naturally.
There are different ways of identifying fractions too.
For example,
Is this 3/4, or is it 1 1/2? This is where something called a unit becomes very important. Units are what make a whole. If the circle is a unit, then we have 3 of the 1/4 pieces necessary to make a whole. If half the circle is a unit, then we have 1 whole and 1 of the 1/2 pieces needed to make another whole.
I like how you showed the fractions using circles. This is an easy way to see what is happening with the fractions. I like how you were straight forward about what a fraction really is. It is good for students to know right away that fractions aren't like you said, 5 out of 8, but five 1/8 pieces. I also like that you talked about how you can show a fractions in more than one way. This was a great blog! I enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your explanation of units and wholes. I also agree that knowing what your whole in a certain problem is probably the most important thing to know before trying to figure out what the fraction is. Staying away from saying "out of" helps with this because I know that was one reason I thought fractions were out of whatever pieces I immediately saw. Similar pictures can show different fractions depending on what the whole is in each problem. The circle example that displayed either 3/4 or 1 1/2 displayed this perfectly. I also thought the link you included was also useful when you want kids to get some basic practice.
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