Fraction Hunt!

Earlier this year, we talked about how you can use Off You Go activities to build deep understanding of number. Then we were discussing whole numbers like 3, 5, and 8, but the same principle is true for fractions, particularly fraction benchmarks that everyone needs to know well and feel deeply comfortable with, like half, fourth, and third.

In this week’s image, we ask students, Where do you see fourth? We’ve selected this image because one way of thinking is that the green apple is one fourth of the apples, or, put differently, one fourth of the apples are green. But any one of the apples is one fourth of the group, and the same is true for their parts, like the stems and leaves. After discussing the ways that this image shows fourth, send students off to look for other representations of fourth in their world, whether in your classroom and school or in their own homes and communities. The notion is that by looking for and collecting multiple representations of a concept, like fourth, students can deepen their understanding of what it means and the many ways it can look.

Students might gather:

• Any four objects, where one of them (perhaps different from the rest) is one-fourth of the group
• A clock showing the time of 3 o’clock, or another arrangement where the hands make a right angle
• A container filled one-fourth of way to the top with water or objects
• A bulletin board filled three-fourths with art and one-fourth empty
• An egg carton filled with 9 eggs (one-fourth empty) or 3 eggs (one-fourth full)
• A student table in your classroom with four chairs where only one has a student sitting in it

These ideas are just the beginning. The environment you allow students to explore will create different kinds of opportunities to find and represent fourth. We strongly recommend that you give students the largest possible space to explore to generate the most diverse collection possible.

When you gather again to discuss what students have found, this is the time to sharpen what fourth actually means. Expect that students will bring back examples that are and are not fourth, and the discussion is a space to figure out whether and why each example is or is not one-fourth. Some may be approximately one-fourth, others may be four rather than one-fourth. In the end, develop a definition of fourth as a class based on all the objects you agreed were one-fourth.

While this week’s image focuses on fourths, you can do this same activity with any fraction or whole number that students can find in their environment. Build fraction understanding by trying an Off You Go activity with your students!

Just a note that we will be taking next week off as our winder break begins. We’ll see you all again at the beginning of January. Happy New Year to all from the multiplicity lab group!

To multiplicity, cheers!

Jen Munson and the multiplicity lab group