Teaching Fractions- Home Learning Guidance
Teaching Fractions!
Our maths topic this half term would be fractions. Some of the objectives for year 3 children are as follows:
Pupils should be taught to:
- count up and down in tenths; recognise that tenths arise from dividing an object into 10 equal parts and in dividing one-digit numbers or quantities by 10.
Try using this numberline to count in steps of one tenth all the way up to one whole and back again. Split objects or groups of objects in your house into 10 equal parts- can your child show one tenth? four tenths? six tenths? Show that when we have ten tenths- all ten parts- we have one whole.
- recognise, find and write fractions of a set of objects
Give your child some counters or something to represent counters- this could be anything! Ask them to find half. Notice that when we find half of a number we share the counters out equally in to two parts and work out what one of those parts is. When we find one quarter of a number we split the counters into four equal parts- that is why the denominator (bottom number) is a 4. Repeat with one eighth.
Link fractions to division. For example- if we want to find one quarter (1/4) of 20 we need to divide 20 by 4.
- recognise and show, using diagrams, equivalent fractions with small denominators
Equivalent fractions are fractions that are the same size. For example 4/8 can also be written as 1/2. This can be seen more easily using a fraction wall like the one below. In school we would use strips of coloured paper to make our own fraction wall.
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- add and subtract fractions with the same denominator within one whole [for example,
+ 
= 
]
When we add fractions with the same denominator (bottom number) the denominator stays the same- see the image below for an example.
The same is also true when subtracting fractions with the same denominator:
- compare and order unit fractions, and fractions with the same denominators
Looking at the fraction wall will help children compare the sizes of different fractions but this is a great lesson to teach using food!
For example:
I cut a pizza into 8 equal slices. Amira ate 3 slices (3/8) and Sam ate 5 slices (5/8)- who ate more? which fraction is larger?
Would you rather have 1/2 of a cake or 1/4? If we cut a cake into 4 equal pieces the pieces will be much smaller than if we cut it into two so 1/2 is the bigger fraction even though the denominator is smaller! (Children tend to think the fraction with the smallest denominator is the smallest when it's actually the other way around.)
I know which slice I would rather have!
Which is the bigger fraction- 1/4 or 1/9? The larger the denominator- the smaller the fraction!
Some fractions games that can be played online:
https://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/fractions/fractionSet.htm
https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/fraction-matcher/latest/fraction-matcher_en.html
https://www.splashlearn.com/fraction-games
Some fractions videos that can help teach tricky topics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0FZhQ_GkKw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMJZXKRhEzE