Fraction Fun & Some Freebies

Hi everyone, It is Jane Feener back again to share some of my ideas on how to teach fractions.  When I first started teaching I found my students always seemed to struggle with fractions so I went looking for ways to help them master this skill.  In this post I hope to share some of the fun ways I have taught fractions over the years and include a few freebies to help you and your students.

The first thing I always try to do is give students lots of hands on experiences with fraction pieces and examples found in their everyday life.  I talk about chocolate bars, cakes and of course pizza.  I also think it is very important to teach students the vocabulary associated with fractions.  Words like numerator and denominator need to be taught early.

Fractions Booklet

Provide Visuals

I am a very visual learner and I always like to show my students lots of pictures of fractions.  One way I do this is by displaying anchor charts and posters in my class.  Here are some great anchor charts I found on Pinterest.  I am not sure who made them so if you did email me so I can give you credit.  My students say thank you!

I display fraction posters on the math focus wall for the whole time I am teaching fractions to provide my students with a variety of representations.

Fraction Posters

Use interactive math notebooks.

A few years ago, I was introduced to interactive math notebooks and I love them.  If you haven't given them a try you should.  What I like about them the most is that students find them engaging.  They love making them their own and they don't seem to consider solving fraction problems in this format work!  I love that students have their very own fraction reference guide that they can to refer to when they get stuck on something they are working on.  If you decide to give them a try make sure you teach them about how to use white bottle glue correctly.

Fraction Interactive Notebook

Make it fun.

And finally, I try to make learning fractions fun.  I like to have students make craftivities to represent various fractions and complete solve the room type activities to practice using what they have learned in class.  

 A fractions lapbook is great for students to use as a reference.

You can get this Solve the Room
 freebie here.

I have even made assessing my students knowledge of fractions fun by using fraction assessment sticks. You can get them here if you would like to give them a try.

I hope some of these ideas help you when teaching your fraction unit.