Learning Fractions by Using Healthy Foods

When I was a little girl I remember my mom sitting with me at our kitchen table reviewing math homework. I hated math! But mom tried her best to make it fun. She would always begin with the same math joke, " Pi-r-squared? No, Pie-r-round." Pi is fairly a simple formula; it's the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. She would say that was the easiest way to remember the formula for Pi .

As a grandmother I sit at my kitchen table helping my granddaughter with her math homework. Although they are not at the mathematical level of using the Pi formula, they are beginning to learn about mathematical shapes like polygons, polyhedra and polytopes . A few weeks ago her math homework assignment involved fractions. I explained that a fraction is a part of a unit. Being the grandchild of a visual artistic she too is guided by her right-brain functions. She had difficulty visualize fractions or units. I needed a tangible teaching aid she could see, feel and taste. What better example than our kichen fruit bowl.

My granddaughter and I love apple slices dipped in almond butter. We usually have our snack after her homework is completed, however in this case it could be the key to solving her math assignment. I placed an apple on our cutting board. I explained that a single apple was one unit [1]. If I cut the apple in half each section becomes a fraction of the unit or whole [1/2]. If I cut the halves they become a fraction of the half [1/4]. When we cut the fourths they become a fraction of the fourth [1/8]. That's when the light bulb went on! "And that's when we get to dip them into the almond butter, right grandmom! You get 4 pieces and I get 4 pieces that's exactly half of the whole apple, [1/8] per slice!"

We did the same lesson with oranges . The size of the orange generally determines how many sections it has. The majority of oranges commonly have between the 6-8 sections per unit. We used a medium sized orange that had exactly 8 sections. Our orange [1 unit] contained 8 sections each section being one eighth [1/8] of the whole or unit.

An Interesting Fact: Did you know that a banana is made up of three individual sections [1/3] per section? Most people slice them horizontally, however if you hold them vertically you can gently divide them into three pieces. I might also add that the banana we eat as a snack and slice on top of our breakfast cereal is the sweeter cousin of the plantain which is commonly fried. Both are high in potassium roughly 358 mg per fruit.

Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mathematical_shapes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_(fruit)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana