Helpful Tips and Resources: 2Nd Grade Investigations Unit 7 (Fractions)

Helpful Tips and Resources: 2 nd grade Investigations Unit 7 (Fractions) Common Core Standard: 2.G.3- Partition circles and rectangles into 2, 3, or 4 equal shares, describe the shares using the words halves, thirds, half of, a third of, etc., and describe the whole as two halves, three thirds, four fourths. Recognize that equal shares of identical wholes need not have the same shape. (This is the BIG) idea in 2nd grade. Students need many experiences partitioning shapes. They also need to prove that equal shares of identical wholes need not have the same shape. They need to cut these different shaped pieces and manipulate them until they can see how they are equal.

*Sessions 1.1-1.4: Useful Parts:  Use of common core vocabulary  Using 2-D shapes for students to partition into halves

Not Useful Parts:  References to symmetry (1/2 of a sandwich)  Halves of sets  Area and perimeter of shapes

*Sessions 2.1-2.3A: Extension Resources  Session 2.1 o National Library of Virtual Manipulatives website (see link below) o Number/Operations activates on K-5 Math Teaching Resources website (see link below)  Session 2.2 o Enchanted Learning website (see link below) . Flags of the world. Have students identify and color which flags are designed in halves, thirds, and fourths.  Session 2.3A o Ed Helper website (see link below) . Identifying and coloring circles in halves, thirds, fourths (sheets can be printed out and used for class work or assessment)

*Sessions 2.3-2.5: Fraction Flags o Pages 27-30: Have students also write how many equal parts each flag has (a whole is two halves) o Take out Session 2.5 (Fractions of Sets) and use extension resources below

Extension Resources o Have students create fraction strips on sentence strips to compare the sizes o Have students create fraction plates (paper plates) and they can divide them into halves, thirds, and fourths. Students SHOULD be doing this with rectangles too. Focus should be on having students create halves, etc. of same size but different shape. Nancy partitioned her sandwich like this (a), Jon partitioned his like this (b). If they each shared their sandwich with 3 friends, does every friend get an equal amount of sandwich? How do you know? A b

o Visual Fractions online games allow students to identify or rename fractions (see link below) o Discovery Ed Video “The Number Crew: Action with Fractions” Useful Fraction Links This one is good. Students actually create the fractions: http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/category_g_1_t_1.html http://www.k-5mathteachingresources.com/geometry-activities.html These activities align with Common Core: Geoboard Halves Geoboard Fourths Equal Parts on the Geoboard Mr. Zed's Cakes*new!

These activities DO NOT align with Common Core: Fraction Barrier Game; students need not use written notation for fractions. They should use and write words for “three-fourths” etc. Fraction Barrier Game Grid; this has shapes other than designated in the standards. Shapes are already portioned.

CAUTION: the following links contain material that is not aligned to the Common-Core  have students color pre-partitioned shapes  use shapes other than circles, squares and rectangles  have students write numeric notation instead of words http://www.ixl.com/math/grade-2/halves-thirds-and-fourths http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/earlymath/fractions_shoot.htm http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_102_g_1_t_1.html?from=category_g_1_t_1.html http://www.edhelper.com/2nd_Grade_Fractions.htm http://visualfractions.com/

Example Assessment Tasks:

Give students rectangles, circles, and/or squares and have them fold shapes to find half, third, and fourth of each one. After they do this, have them explain how they know if they have a half, third, or fourth.

Tyler, Brian, Morgan, and Sally share a pizza. The pizza is cut into equal parts. Using a paper plate, show how much pizza Brian gets. Label the piece with words.

What ever the tasks are that you ask students to do for the assessment, the key is to have them explain how they know (MP 3- Viable Arguments) in order to ensure understanding of the concept of fractions!