A Learning Activity is a strategy a teacher chooses to actively
engage students in learning a concept or skill using a digital tool/resource.
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Phase:
Before/Engage
Activity:
Introduce a fractional conversation to the students by allowing them to share some examples of fractions that they might use or see in their everyday lives (measurements in cooking, half past 3 pm, road signs showing the distance to next exit, etc.)
Read aloud the book Whole-y Cow Fractions Are Fun by Taryn Souders using a paper copy of the book or the digital copy. Students should record the fractional decompositions as an equation in their math journals. For example: "Moo while her friends paint one half of her blue. What fraction of the cow is blue? What fraction of the cow is white?" Students should record 1/2 + 1/2 = 1
Students will continue to record the fractional decompositions throughout the entire book.
Assessment Strategies:
Student recordings of fractional decompositions in their math journals will be used as a formative assessment to check for understanding as students decompose a fraction using an equation as a representation.
Advanced Preparation:
Teachers will need to have access to the book or digital copy of Whole-y Cow Fractions Are Fun by Taryn Souders.
Students should have an understanding that fractions are part of a whole.
Variation Tips (optional):
This book can also be used in a math center. The answers to the questions throughout the book are in the back of the book.
Notes or Recommendations (optional):
15. Model and justify decompositions of fractions and explain addition and subtraction of fractions as joining or separating parts referring to the same whole. a. Decompose a fraction as a sum of unit fractions and as a sum of fractions with the same denominator in more than one way using area models, length models, and equations. b. Add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers with like denominators using fraction equivalence, properties of operations, and the relationship between addition and subtraction. c. Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions and mixed numbers having like denominators, using drawings, visual fraction models, and equations to represent the problem.
This activity can stand alone or be used with the following learning activities: