• Fraction insets
• One golden unit bead
• Blank strips of paper cut out as labels
• Whole circle cut outs

This is the first lesson in the fraction sequence. You will first introduce the fractions and their names using the three period game.  

To prepare: Have labels ready in a little basket or container. Have whole circle cut outs (at least 4 or so ready to go for the lesson).

Bring out the first five fraction insets to your workspace. You'll bring out the rest IF you notice growing interest. 

"Today we're going to find out what fractions are."

Hold up a golden unit bead. Ask, "what is this?" 

Let your child reply.

"We start counting with one. Is there anything smaller than this bead that we know of?

No, there isn't... anything that we know of."

But what if I have a slice of bread and I want to share it with my friend? I can cut it.

"But I can't cut this bead! It's too hard to cut! Let's try to squash it and squeeze it."

Pretend to squeeze the golden bead between your palms... "ahh! I squeezed it and it became flat and red!" Pull out one of the whole cut out circles. 

"Now I can cut this because it's nice and flat and big enough for me to cut!"

Show them the circle in the inset. "This is our whole circle. But we can't cut this one, so we'll cut our paper one."

Cut the circle in half. 

Take the fraction inset that is cut in half and place it on top of the one you cut. 

"This is the family of halves."

Introducing the numerator

Introducing the denominator

After introducing the concept of fractions, it's time to work with making quantities with the fractions and identifying them.

"Today, we'll be working with these fractions again." Have them all lined up at the top of your mat.

Take out 3/4 from the insets and place them on your mat.

Take a slip of paper and write a line in the middle. "This *pointing to the fraction* is from the family of fourths. So we will write down four in the denominator."

Write four at the bottom.

"Now how many pieces do I have here?"

 take out different quantities and write them down 

Slips of paper

Once you've had some practice, you can now move on to operations with fractions while exploring equivalences. 

Exploring the equivalent fractions 1/2 1/4 1/8... etc.

Use the task cards provided in the printables section for this part of the lesson.

"Today, we're going to do addition with the fractions!"

Look at the first problem on the addition task cards. 

1/2 + 1/2 = 

Take out 1/2 and another 1/2. 

"What do we do when we add?"

By now, they know they that addition means to add up together. 

Put the two halves together. 

Write down the answer. 2/2. 

"Oh but we know that two halves equals one, so we can just write down 1 instead."

Continue on with the rest of the problems on the task card.

For this lesson, you will need the task cards with operations. 

3/4 - 1/4 

Take out 3/4ths and say... "This is how much we have. We need to take away 1/4."

Addition with Fractions

Addition with Fractions