Strategies
This curriculum unit will be taught in the beginning of the spring semester. By then, students should have a good grasp of basic number operations and measurement. I will first ask my students for their definition of a fraction. Cooperative learning will be one classroom strategy I use. Students will have a couple of minutes to think and write in their math journal, then share their ideas with their group or partner. Students will ask each other for further explanation during their group chat. Some examples of possible questions are: How did you come up with your explanation? What support do you have for your explanation? Do we have similar or different explanations? Can we both be correct? Group chats will be conducted throughout the unit and will support critical thinking and reasoning. The ideas discussed in this unit can be used for all the operations of arithmetic and fractions.
Introduction of the number ray and area model will be used to locate and recognize a unit fraction. The adjective-noun relationship of numbers and units will be reviewed. The adjective-noun relationship should be introduced with instruction of basic number operations earlier in the year. Students will have many hands on activities to familiarize themselves with both the number ray and area model. Rulers, Hershey's bars, graham crackers, paper folding, and a class yarn number line are some ideas for exploration of fractions.
Teaching strategies vary daily in my classroom. I begin with a question to have my students begin thinking about the topic. I continue with a lecture style addressing student's ideas that were mentioned in our initial group share. Then I will give them a hands-on activities or strategies to aid in problem solving. Students also summarize key points of lessons and create problems in their math journals. The main fraction strategy I will use will be the use of the unit fraction together with the number ray and area model to compare, locate, add, subtract and rename fractions.
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