Flitting with fractions
This is a level 2 number activity from the Figure It Out series. It relates to Stage 5 of the Number Framework.
About this resource
Figure It Out is a series of 80 books published between 1999 and 2009 to support teaching and learning in New Zealand classrooms.
This resource provides the teachers’ notes and answers for one activity from the Figure It Out series. A printable PDF of the student activity can be downloaded from the materials that come with this resource.
Specific learning outcomes:
- Find fractions of a set.
Flitting with fractions
Achievement objectives
NA2-1: Use simple additive strategies with whole numbers and fractions.
Required materials
- Figure It Out, Level 2-3, Number, "Flitting with fractions", page 21
- a calculator (optional)
See Materials the come with this resource to download:
- Flitting with fractions activity (.pdf)
Activity
These problems are similar to those on page 20 because they involve a sets model of fractions. Students will need to count systematically and organise their data carefully.
A useful teaching point is the reduction of a fraction to its simplest form. For example, in question 1, five of the 30 butterflies have stripes. This could be modelled as:
Students may graph the characteristics of the butterflies using bar, strip, or pie graphs. This will provide a useful connection between fractions and data handling (statistics).
1.
5/30 or 1/6
2.
6/30 or 1/5
3.
1/3
4.
3/30 or 1/10
5.
15/30 or 1/2
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