Lesson Plans

Teaching Fractions-Thirds

Written by: Beth Massey, Athens State University (Summer, 2001)

Graphics, Editing, and Formatting by:

Dr. Beth McCulloch Vinson

I. Preparing (to plan for instruction)

· Materials: Alabama Course of Study: Mathematics, page 24, numbers 19 and 20; The Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Fractions Book; individual plastic bags containing circle pieces; individual plastic bags containing rectangle pieces; game boards; index cards printed with thirds, quarters, halves, and whole; index cards with pictures of halves, thirds, quarters and wholes; file folder games, Fraction Card Game, Dominoes Fractions.

· Objectives: The students will:

· (Application) work with fractions,

· (Synthesis) create and manipulate objects divided into equal parts,

· (Application) name thirds, quarters, and halves.

· Grade Level: 2^nd

II. Orienting (to establish purpose, build background, sustain motivation, and provide directions.

· Anticipatory Set: The teacher will read the book The Hershey Chocolate Candy Bar book. The teacher will tell the students that they are going to learn how to identify objects that are divided into thirds, use the right fraction words to identify thirds, and learn how to divide wholes into thirds.

· Purpose: The teacher will explain that many times we need to separate things into parts so that we can share with each other.

· Connection to previous learning/Build background knowledge: The teacher will explain that the previous lessons have taught about fractions, specifically halves and quarters. She will prompt a discussion to ensure that the students remember previous items covered: equal parts, fractions have two numbers, top number is the numerator, and the bottom number is the denominator. She will then explain that we will now learn how to divide objects into thirds.

III. Presenting (to use sequential direct instruction

· Teaching Procedure:

· Give each child a zippered bag containing the necessary parts of the circle.

· Tell the children to take out all blue parts.

· Tell the children to make a circle with those blue parts.

· Ask how many parts are there in the circle. (knowledge)

· If there are three parts, we call those parts thirds of the circle.

· Now, tell the children to take one blue part away.

· Tell them to replace it with a red part.

· Ask what part of the circle is blue. (application)

· Ask what part is red. (application)

· Now take another blue piece away and replace it with a white piece.

· Ask what part of the circle is blue. (application)

· Ask what part is red. (application)

· Ask what part is white. (application)

· Now direct the children to put all of the circle pieces together and place them back in the bag.

· Ask if something has to be shaped like a circle to be divided into thirds. (analysis)

· Give each child another plastic bag containing rectangle shapes. Instruct them to take the pieces of paper out of their bag.

· Tell them to form a square out of the shapes. (knowledge)

· Ask how many pieces are in the square. (application)

· Tell them that the square is made of thirds.

· Tell them to take another blue piece away and replace it with a white piece.

· Ask what part of the square is blue. (application)

· Ask what part is white. (application)

· Now tell them to take another blue piece away and replace it with a green piece.

· Ask what part of the square is blue. (application)

· Ask what part is green. (application)

· Ask what part is white. (application)

IV. Practicing and Summarizing (to reinforce and extend ideas)

· Review:

· (Application) We have learned that many things can be divided into thirds. We have also learned that you can move those equal parts around and the object is still divided into thirds.

· (Analysis) The teacher will ask for volunteers to share how they decide if something is divided into thirds.

· (Comprehension) The teacher will ask for volunteers to tell the differences between halves, thirds, and quarters.

· Guided Practice:

· Now let’s divide something into thirds.

· Take the index card out of the bag.

· This card is a 4x6 card.

· Now take out the smaller white card out of the bag.

· That piece is one third of the larger piece of paper.

· How can we divide the larger piece into thirds? (synthesis)

· Line the small piece up with the left side of the larger piece.

· Take a pencil and mark along the right side of the smaller piece.

· Now place the left side of the smaller piece along the pencil mark you made and draw another line along the right side.

· Now take the smaller piece away.

· You have divided the rectangle into thirds.

· Now color each third a different color.

· Independent Practice:

· The teacher will give each child a file folder game of “Strike”. They will match the correct fraction to the correct picture.

· For enrichment, those students will be allowed to play the card game FRACTIONS together. (cooperative learning)

· For remediation, those children will be given copies of shapes that have dotted lines separating the thirds so that they can have a guideline to follow to divide into thirds.

· Summarizing:

· Let’s see what we remember!

· “A fraction is what kind of parts of a whole?” (equal)

· “When we divide something into thirds, we are dividing it into how many equal pieces?”

V. Assessment: (to check for attainment of objectives)

Assessment for understanding of thirds:

· The teacher will hand out large game sheets and six index cards.

· The teacher will call out items in the same manner as bingo.

· A square that is 1/3 green.

· A circle that is 2/3’s yellow.

· A square that is 1/3 blue.

· A circle that is 2/3’s green.

· A circle that is 3/3’s blue.

· A square that is 1/3 green, 1/3 yellow, and 1/3 red.



		FREE SPACE

· The children will be directed to place a white card over each item that is called out. When their sheet is completely covered, they are to say, “I understand thirds!”

· Since each child should call out at the same time, the teacher will be able to notice if someone did not grasp an understanding of thirds.

Cumulative Assessment (halves, thirds, and quarters):

· Each child will receive a stack of cards labeled with the following:

· Thirds

· Whole

· Halves

· Quarters

· The teacher will hold up a picture of a circle or square divided into equal parts. Each child is to hold up the card that describes the picture.

· The teacher will be able to quickly assess if everyone has a firm grasp on halves, thirds, and quarters.

Also, see the Fractions and Decimals PowerPoint Slides Shows at:

http://www.athens.edu/pt3/vinson/fract_dec.ppt

http://www.athens.edu/pt3/vinson/fract_set.ppt