Flexible with Fractions
10 min
Narrative
This Warm-up prompts students to make sense of a problem before solving it, by familiarizing themselves with a context and the mathematics that might be involved. Students observe images that show three ways of making a T shape, using sticky notes, a context they will see in the first activity.
This prompt gives students opportunities to look for structure (MP7)—specifically, the number and orientation of the sticky notes of which each T shape is composed—and make use of it to solve problems later.
Launch
- Groups of 2
- Display the image.
- “What do you notice? What do you wonder?”
- 1 minute: quiet think time
Teacher Instructions
- “Discuss your thinking with your partner.”
- 1 minute: partner discussion
- Share and record responses.
Student Task
What do you notice? What do you wonder?
Sample Response
- There are three T shapes made of little rectangles (or sticky notes).
- Some rectangles are oriented vertically and some horizontally.
- There are 12 rectangles in each T.
- In the first T, all the rectangles are horizontal. In the second T, all of them are vertical.
Students may wonder:
- Are the rectangles sticky notes?
- What size are the sticky notes? Are they all the same size?
- Why are the rectangles (or sticky notes) in the last T oriented in different ways?
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
- “All three Ts are made of the same number of sticky notes. Do the Ts have the same width and the same height?” (No)
- “Why might that be?” (The sticky notes have a longer side and a shorter side, and are not all oriented the same way.)
Standards
- 4.NF.3.d·Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions referring to the same whole and having like denominators, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem.
- 4.NF.4·Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction by a whole number.
- 4.NF.B.3.d·Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions referring to the same whole and having like denominators, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem.
- 4.NF.B.4·Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction by a whole number.
25 min
20 min
25 min
Knowledge Components
All skills for this lesson
No KCs tagged for this lesson
Flexible with Fractions
10 min
Narrative
This Warm-up prompts students to make sense of a problem before solving it, by familiarizing themselves with a context and the mathematics that might be involved. Students observe images that show three ways of making a T shape, using sticky notes, a context they will see in the first activity.
This prompt gives students opportunities to look for structure (MP7)—specifically, the number and orientation of the sticky notes of which each T shape is composed—and make use of it to solve problems later.
Launch
- Groups of 2
- Display the image.
- “What do you notice? What do you wonder?”
- 1 minute: quiet think time
Teacher Instructions
- “Discuss your thinking with your partner.”
- 1 minute: partner discussion
- Share and record responses.
Student Task
What do you notice? What do you wonder?
Sample Response
- There are three T shapes made of little rectangles (or sticky notes).
- Some rectangles are oriented vertically and some horizontally.
- There are 12 rectangles in each T.
- In the first T, all the rectangles are horizontal. In the second T, all of them are vertical.
Students may wonder:
- Are the rectangles sticky notes?
- What size are the sticky notes? Are they all the same size?
- Why are the rectangles (or sticky notes) in the last T oriented in different ways?
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
- “All three Ts are made of the same number of sticky notes. Do the Ts have the same width and the same height?” (No)
- “Why might that be?” (The sticky notes have a longer side and a shorter side, and are not all oriented the same way.)
Standards
- 4.NF.3.d·Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions referring to the same whole and having like denominators, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem.
- 4.NF.4·Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction by a whole number.
- 4.NF.B.3.d·Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions referring to the same whole and having like denominators, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem.
- 4.NF.B.4·Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction by a whole number.