This strategy focuses on making sense of real-world situations involving fractions as part of a set.
1
Tell the following story: Ten people came over for dinner. Half of them were vegetarian, while the other half ate meat. How many people were vegetarian?
2
Have your child draw pictures of ten people to help solve the problem.
3
Remind your child that a half is ½, which means one out of two equal groups.
4
Show your child how to divide the pictures of people into two equal groups.
5
Instruct your child to count how many people are in each group.
6
Tell your child that ½ of 10 is 5.
7
Repeat this process with bigger or smaller numbers and fractions depending on your child’s age and fluency with fractions.
Teaching Strategy 2
Draw Pictures
1st grade
2nd Grade
3rd Grade
4th Grade
5th Grade
This strategy focuses on drawing pictures as a way of understanding fractions as part of a set.
1
Ask your child to figure out what ¼ of 8 is.
2
Have your child draw eight circles.
3
Remind your child that a ¼ is one out of four equal groups.
4
Show your child how to divide the circles into four equal groups.
5
Instruct your child to count how many circles are in each group.
6
Tell your child that ¼ of 8 is 2.
7
Repeat this process with bigger or smaller numbers and fractions depending on your child’s age and fluency with fractions.
Teaching Strategy 3
Solve Equations
4th Grade
5th Grade
This strategy focuses on using multiplication to solve problems involving fractions as parts of a set.
1
Write an equation for your child to solve. For example, ⅓ x 9 = ___.
2
Explain that this is the same as figuring out ⅓ of 9.
3
Have your child use pictures to help solve the problem.
4
Repeat this process with bigger or smaller numbers and fractions depending on your child’s age and fluency with fractions.
