Getting in shape
This is a level 2 number activity from the Figure It Out series. It relates to Stage 5 of the Number Framework. A PDF of the student activity is included.
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 region.
Getting in shape
Achievement objectives
NA2-1: Use simple additive strategies with whole numbers and fractions.
Required materials
- pattern blocks
- square grid
- isometric dot paper
- Figure It Out, Number-Level 2-3, "Getting in shape", page 19
See Materials that come with this resource to download:
- Getting in shape activity (.pdf)
- Isometric paper CM (.pdf)
Activity
You may need to remind students, in various ways, what “three-quarters” means. This might involve creating a poster with representations such as:
The three-quarter bug problems will each have a number of solutions. Students should be encouraged to find as many answers as possible. To help them realise why it is called the three-quarter bug, the original shape and what is left behind could be modelled with pattern blocks.
- How could we write how much of the whole square or triangle the bug ate?
An interesting connection is that for each quarter shape, the original shape could have been an enlargement of the quarter.
Shapes like this are sometimes called reptiles. Students must justify their solutions. For example:
1.
It eats three-quarters of everything.
2.
Answers will vary. The shapes could be the same but three times as big.
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