Do your students struggle with fractions? In the unit Fractions: Building Conceptual Understanding and Problem Solving students are given the opportunities to build their understanding of fractions and apply this knowledge to problem solving. This unit is geared toward 4^th grade students who may be lacking the skills to access the classroom curriculum. The Common Core State Standards place a huge focus on building the understanding of fractions through the unit fraction. Therefore, students will begin this unit by developing their understanding of a unit and a unit fraction. Through the use of area models and linear models students will be able to represent various unit fractions. As the students explore these models they will see the connections between improper fractions and mixed numbers. Students will then study the taxonomy of addition and subtraction problems. The practice will focus on the change increase and decrease problems with the use of fractions. Students will be given opportunities to  solve, identify, and ultimately write their own word problems. Through these activities your students will have a much deeper understanding of what fractions represent and how to apply this when problem solving.

(Developed for Mathematics - Fractions, grade 4; recommended for Mathematics - Fractions, grade 4)