Where in the World is the Elephant?

Engage:  

I will go to www.visualfractions.com/FindGrampy.html and read students the instructions for the game.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Grampy's favorite game is hide and seek. He is hiding at a fractional distance between the beginning and the end of the hedge.

The picture tells you the number of parts the hedge is divided into. The number of parts is the denominator of the fraction. Grampy is hiding behind one of those parts. The part he is hiding behind is the numerator of the fraction. You are to guess which part he is hiding behind. You may enter only the numerator of the fractional distance where Grampy is hiding.

Grammy will help by pointing to your right if the fraction is too small and to your left if the fraction is too large.

Grampy does not hide himself well.  You will see the top of his head behind the hedge.

The computer will keep track of the number of times you find Grampy and the number of tries. Have fun!

Click Start.

Now, I will ask students what they came up with and have them justify why they got that number. 

I want everybody to remain silent.  Think about what number between 0 and 1 you think Grampy is hiding at and write it down on a piece of paper. 

Answers will coincide with what comes up on the Grampy game. 

Explore:

I will review fractions with the students first. 

Rational numbers are numbers that have two parts:  one part is a number on top of a line and the other part is a number below the line. 

Good!  So a fraction consists of a numerator and a denominator. 

Okay.  Well today we are going to be working with fractions on the number line.  Just like what we did with whole numbers last week, we are going to work on putting fractions in order on number line. 

Students will get into groups of 3.  Each group will be set up at a group and each group will go to this website: http://illuminations.nctm.org/

ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=44. (I will show them how to use the website before they start their activity)

I will give the students a worksheet and they will have to give equivalent fractions and draw pictures for the fractions given to them by using the applet on this website.  After this, students will return to the table and put the fractions on their worksheet in order from least to greatest just like on a number line. 

What’s another name for a rational number?

What are the parts of a fraction?

What else can you tell me about a fraction?

What do you mean?

Great!  So how do we know when fractions are equivalent?

Questions will vary for the students:

How can you tell when some fraction is equivalent to ½ (like 3/6 for example)?

How can you tell if one fraction is bigger than another?

Fraction!

Numerator and denominator. 

The numerator is just a part of the denominator. 

Well, the denominator is like the whole pizza and the numerator is just one slice or two slices, etc out of the pizza. 

When you multiply the numerator and the denominator by the same number, you get another fraction and that fraction is equivalent to the original one. 

Because  half of the boxes in the rectangle are shaded in. 

You can draw a picture to see which fraction has more pieces shaded in.  Like if only two pieces are shaded in out of 7 and 14 pieces are shaded in out of 15, then the one with 14 pieces is bigger.  If the denominators are the same, then you can just look to see which numerator is bigger. 

Explain:

 As a class, we will go through some of the problems on the worksheet using the applet together.  Then I will have the class tell me how they put the fractions in order from least to greatest and what they got for it. 

Good! 

If I draw a number line and label it from 1-10, I want to know how much 2/5 of the number line is.  How do I figure this out?

Well 5 is a multiple of 10, so you can multiply both the numerator and denominator in the fraction 2/5 by 2 and get 4/10.  So, then you can just shade in up through the number 4 on the number line. 

Elaborate: 

I will have the kids work on fraction word problems.  I will do one together as a class and then they are on their own.  This is important because the Elephant might leave a clue that has to do with identifying fractions. 

Jessica bought 8/9 a pound of chocolate and ate 1/3 of a pound.  How much was left?

Example Problems to ask:

Which apple weighs more, one that weighs 2/3 of a pound or one that weighs 5/6 of a pounds?

The track is 3/5 of a mile long. If Joey  jogged around it twice, how far did he run?

Sam rode his bike 2/5 of a mile and walked another ¾ of a mile.  How far did he travel?

You do 8/9 -1/3, which is equivalent to 8/9-3/9 which is equal to 5/9!

. 

Students answer independently. 

  Evaluate:

I will have students write a letter to someone in the class that was absent that lesson.  The students will have to tell the absent student what the lesson was about.  Students will have to mention that it was about fractions on a number line, they will have to refresh the absent student’s memory of what a fraction is and what equivalent fractions are.  And they will have to tell the student in their own words how to put fractions in order from least to greatest.  These will be graded.