How to Teach Fractions
Keywords: How to teach fractions--an easy way that works, easy, simple, teach, fractions, elementary students, junior high, high school, quick, help on how to teach fractions to children, kidsIn Year 2 of our school, I had what I call, "the fractions crisis". We were in RightStart, book D. Up to that point, we had breezed through the excellently written books*. One day we were going through lesson 83 when Hannah said, "Huh?" That threw me into a tailspin. Up to that point, we had breezed right through the phenomenal books. Her question had something to do with fractions whether directly or indirectly. I started searching for answers for how to teach fractions. I searched books and the internet to no avail. I finally put up all the books in the armoir and closed it. Vain was the help of man. My crisis was not solved and I cried out to God. I decided that he had to be the God of the mathematics or else forget it all and send her to school. I had never said that before.
*[RightStart starts to worsen with Book E--too much information was thrown in one book--we did select portions of it and purchased their Geometry book as a reference, but began using our own homemade mathematics books to review and extend to higher levels of practical, useful mathematics.)I finally went to sleep and woke up the next morning with a thought, "I wonder if I can do something...?" and sat down at the computer and began typing a teaching on fractions. Just as I was finishing and was going on to another part, Hannah walked in and said, "What's that?" I shrugged my shoulders and figured I could test out what was written. In a matter of a few minutes the teaching was done - and permanent. I never had to teach her, or me, fractions after that. I can remember one memorable day afterwards when I asked Hannah how much milk was left in the refrigerator and she told me, "There is about five-eighths (5/8) of a gallon left." She was about five years old.
This fractions teaching was sent to me in a way that I could understand and that a five-year old could understand. The following section was typed from that same paper that I typed that fateful morning. There are only slight additions to help the reader to understand. If you have been frustrated in the past, you can understand this. Just be calm in your spirit and try to understand each step before proceeding to the next one (actually, you may want to read the whole teaching first and then go back and look at each step). What you read below may not contain the current textbook definition for a fraction, but you can learn what a fraction is from this.
One thing that I have always done is use the proper mathematical terms for what we are doing. I was not afraid to use "numerator" or "denominator" and use it CONSISTENTLY (we did--and do--almost no memory work). My daughter started RightStart book A (kindergarten mathematics) after she could read at 3 years old. It was based on the abacus and understanding mathematics, not memorizing formulas. When we began writing our own mathematics books, I made sure that there was a constant review of "the four basic operations of mathematics--addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division". If I said, "What are the four basic operations of mathematics?" She would tell me, "Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division." This was from very early on. We also reviewed fractions and other operations with simple worksheets--no reteaching, just simple exercises interspersed with whatever mathematical ground that is being covered (by God's grace we progress incrementally and consistently). Fractions not only include fractions like the ones on this page (with numerator and denominator), BUT ALSO decimals, and percents--ALL OF THESE ARE FRACTIONS. At some point, I'll look to add links for these additional teachings on decimals and percents at the bottom of this page. But for now,
How to teach fractions.
Fractioning
(This teaching is explained to the child, not given to him to read) Fractioning is breaking up or splitting up. To fraction something is to break it up. A fraction is a broken piece of a number. Fractions are broken numbers. They tell you how many pieces a unit was broken into, and how many of those pieces you are working with.
Fractioning is the operation of breaking up an integer (a whole number) or integral (a whole thing like a stick). The unit is broken up into equal pieces: 7, 2, 37, 15, 3, etc.
Each broken piece is a fraction (broken piece) of the whole thing. If a stick was broken into three pieces--
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And I took two pieces---------------------- --------------------
Then I would have two out of the three pieces or 2/3 of the stick. One out of the three pieces (1/3) is left.--------------------
If I decided I wanted the other piece, I would have three out of the three pieces (3/3) which would be the whole thing. I would have the whole stick--even though it was broken.-------------------- -------------------- --------------------
Let's say that I wanted to break up each of the three pieces in two--
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Now, instead of having three thirds (3/3), I would have six sixths (6/6).
The Number Line [This can be drawn on a chalkboard--this section
is only for if the child is already acquainted with the number line.]
We can show fractions on the number line. Look at this whole, unbroken unit--
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Now look below. How many pieces is this unit broken into? [Remember to count whole segments (the spaces between the lines), not the vertical lines. The answer is six (6)] That number is the denominator. Denominator means "he who names" or "he who gives a name". The denominator tells you how many total pieces there are.
What fraction are the three lines below pointing to? Three out of the six pieces or 3/6. The "3" is called the numerator. The numerator tells how many of the pieces that you have. There are six total pieces, you have three pieces.
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Fractioning up Strips of Paper
Let's fraction up strips of paper. [Make lengthwise strips out of clean white printer paper or any plain white paper with no lines on it. Take one, fold in half and tear. Give both pieces to the child. "You have 2 pieces of 2 or 2/2 [I think that I drew the 2/2 on the whiteboard next to us as we sat on the floor]." "What if I take one?" "How many do you have now?" "Right, you have 1 of 2 pieces or 1/2."]
[Take another strip. Fold it in half. Pointing to the two pieces, ask, "How many pieces are there?" (2). Fold it in half again. "How many pieces are there?" (4). "Let's tear these apart. If I give you all four, how many pieces do you have? 4 of 4 or 4/4. What if I take two? How many do you have then? 2 of 4 or 2/4.]
Keep going if the child wants to. This is the whole math class for the day. We did not have to do it again (my daughter is now ten years old).
Postscript
Concerning improper fractions, I thought that I would have to do a lesson with my daughter to show her how to do them. Before I could explain the lesson, she looked at my piece of paper that said 11/7 and just said "That is one and four sevenths (1 4/7)."
I was going to add a part two to this page for improper fractions but I don't know if it is necessary. Improper fractions are improper because how can you have more pieces than you have? 7/7 means that there are seven pieces and I have seven of them. 11/7 means that something was broken up into 7 pieces and I have 11 of them. How can that be? It means I have the seven and 4 more of the same size from another source.
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Keywords: help on how to teach fractions to children, kids