Lesson Plan Introducing Fractions

Lesson Objective: Students will be able to identify fractions from pie charts and will begin to be able to compare and contrast them according to size.

Lesson Opening

1. Ask the children if they know any numbers that are more than 0 but less than 1. Ask them if they think such a number exists. Have a show of hands and mark what the children say.

1. Show them a full sized cardboard pizza with easily removable cardboard pieces. Tell them that this is one pizza, so the amount of pizza is equal to 1.

Guided Practice

1. Remove a piece of pizza. Ask them how "many pizzas" you have now. Is it 1 pizza? Is it 0. Keep pushing them to admit that it is somewhere in the middle.

1. From there, bring students up to the front of the classroom in pairs. Divide the pizza in two, and tell them what you are doing. Ask them how "many pizzas" each person has. Make sure to distinguish between pizza slices and pizza. They should understand the concept of half.

1. From there, go on to simple concepts such as one-third, one-fourth, one fifth and also two-fifths, etc. Take out a quarter and explain where it got its name.

1. Here, you have to make a big decision depending on time and their level of comprehension. If they understand what they are doing, then move on to explaining how two-sixths is the same as one-third. If there is no time, go on to student practice.

Independent Practice

1. The children will work on worksheets that have already been prepared. They will contain pictures of partially filled pizzas and questions asking to go from pizza pictures to fractions and fractions to pizza pictures. Make sure to have one example that is one pizza and one that is zero pizzas.

1. Make sure to have at least one miniature pizza for each table to work with.

Closing

1. Remind them of their initial vote. Ask them the same question about a number between 0 and 1 again.
2. Their homework assignment will be to find three examples of fractions in real life.