This week in math students explored fractions of a set. Given a set of items, students had to determine how many of the the items constituted a certain fraction of the set.
For example: What is 3/4 of 20?
To do this, students were able to use blocks. They started by creating their set of 20 blocks. Next, students realized that in order to find 3/4 of the set (or three out of four) they needed the set of blocks to be split into 4 equal groups. We connected this step in the process to division - 20 divided by 4 = 5. Now that students had 4 groups of 5, they knew they needed 3 of those 4 groups. They isolated 3 of the groups and counted to see how much 3/4 of 20 would be. Outside of just using the manipulatives, we discussed the mathematical way to solve this type of problem using multiplication and division - 20 divided by 4 = 5, 3 groups of 5 (3x5) = 15.
To apply what they learned, students then had to complete a Fraction of a Set booklet (sample pages below). Finally, to keep the enrichment going, the next day in math, students had to create a garden of flowers. Each flower they created had to have a certain amount of petals. Of those petals, a fraction of them had to be a certain color. See directions for this activity below.
For example: What is 3/4 of 20?
To do this, students were able to use blocks. They started by creating their set of 20 blocks. Next, students realized that in order to find 3/4 of the set (or three out of four) they needed the set of blocks to be split into 4 equal groups. We connected this step in the process to division - 20 divided by 4 = 5. Now that students had 4 groups of 5, they knew they needed 3 of those 4 groups. They isolated 3 of the groups and counted to see how much 3/4 of 20 would be. Outside of just using the manipulatives, we discussed the mathematical way to solve this type of problem using multiplication and division - 20 divided by 4 = 5, 3 groups of 5 (3x5) = 15.
To apply what they learned, students then had to complete a Fraction of a Set booklet (sample pages below). Finally, to keep the enrichment going, the next day in math, students had to create a garden of flowers. Each flower they created had to have a certain amount of petals. Of those petals, a fraction of them had to be a certain color. See directions for this activity below.