Lesson Title: Fractions that Add to One

Teachers: Liz Owens

Grade: Fourth
Time: 50 minutes
CCSS: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.NF.B.3.A Understand addition and subtraction
of fractions as joining and separating parts referring to the same whole.
Goals: Students will understand that all fractions are made of equal sized parts.
Materials:
Fraction bars
Pencils
Math journal
Word Problem Set
blank paper
Before: One teacher will draw a rectangle on the board.The teacher will tell the
students, Sara and Kelsey have one cake. They want to share it equally. How
many equal pieces will they need to split it into? (Students will answer 2) Can
anyone tell me what we would call each of these pieces? (One half) So, how
many halves would equal one whole? (Two)
Teachers will pass out blank paper and intrust students to imagine this paper is
the cake, how could you model what we just did on the board with this paper?
Teachers will move around the room and ask students to explain why the folded
the paper the way they did. The teacher will take notice of students who have
folded their papers differently. When all students have completed the task, the
teacher will ask a student to share how they folded their paper. The teacher will
ask the student why they chose to fold the paper that way. The teacher will ask
the class if the student is correct. The teacher will ask the class if anyone else
folded the paper a different way and why. The teacher will ask the class which
way is better (Either one!)
The teacher will ask the students to repeat this folding the paper into quarters
and eighths. Repeating the process above.
The teacher will introduce the use of fraction blocks to model how fractions equal
one. The teacher will model to the students, I have two equal one half pieces.
These two equal one half pieces equal one whole. Try this with the one quarter
pieces. How many one quarter pieces equal one?
Teachers will ask the students how many pieces equal one and how they
know.
During: Students will be put into groups of 2 students, selected by the teachers
and will be presented with the first word problem.
Teachers will walk around asking students:

How did you do this?

Why do you know this is true?
How do know?
Could you do this a different way?
This process will be repeated with the next 4 word problems.
After:
After students complete the word problems, we will have a class discussion
about how they solved the problems. The teachers will call on students to
volunteer to demonstrate how they solved the problem. The teacher will ask what
method they used (paper, fraction blocks, etc.) and ask the students to explain
their process. The class will be asked if the student is correct and if anyone
solved it differently. This process will be repeated with the other word problems.
Assessment:
Students will be assessed by the value of classroom discussions and teacher
observations as we walk around and question the students process.
Word Problems:
Your class is having a pizza party. There is of a pepperoni pizza left over and
of a cheese pizza left over. If you put them in one box, how much of a pizza do
you have left over?
Mary and Helen walked of a mile. They took a break by a pond and then
walked of a mile. What distance did they walk?
Jane is making a cake. She needs cup of sugar for the frosting and cup of
sugar for the cake batter. How many cups of sugar does she need in all?
Jenny is making bracelets out of wire. For each bracelet, she needs of a foot
of wire. If she has one foot of wire, how many bracelets can she make?
In a bag of M&Ms, of the bag is yellow, of the bag is blue, of the bag is
red, and of the bag is brown. All together, how much of the bag is filled with
yellow, blue, red, and brown M&Ms?
Extension:
Students will add fractions of length units and be asked to convert answer to a
different unit.