This week on the blog I will be featuring posts on the theme of supporting kids’ learning. You can read other posts in this series here:
- Supporting kids’ learning – study skills and prioritising
- Helping beginning readers
- Supporting young people who struggle with maths
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A fraction wall can be a great visual representation for kids who are starting to learn fractions. I made this one for my daughter to help her understand the concept of equivalent fractions.
Equivalent fractions are those that have the same value, even though they are made up of different numbers. For example: 2/4 = 1/2 = 4/8
To determine if a fraction is an equivalent fraction you can multiply or divide both the top and bottom by the same number, the fraction keeps it’s value:
- 6/8 – if you divide the top and bottom by 2 you get 3/4
- 1/3 – if you multiply by 3 you get 3/9
As well as doing the mathematical equations, my daughter would colour in the sheet to work out what fractions would represent the same amounts.
You can follow the lines from ½ for example down the page to see that it equals 2/4, 3/6, 4/8 and 5/10.
The coloured image helped reinforce the theoretical learning with some practical learning. You can download the fraction wall here – Planning With Kids Fraction Wall.
Here are some example questions you can use with the fraction wall:
- What are the different ways you can find to make a ½ ?
- What other ways could you write 2/3?
- Can you find other fractions which are equivalent to ¾ ?
- What patterns did you notice?
What resources do you use to help your children understand fractions?