What Are Fractions?
June 10, 2022
Your children often receive a part of something when your family bonds together. For example, their father ordered a box of pizza. Each kid would get a portion of the whole pizza. Another instance is if you buy a bucket of chicken containing six pieces, your children will have their share. Also, if one of your kids has received a bar of chocolate from her friend’s mother, he or she can share it to his or her siblings.
Your kids are presented with different real-life scenarios involving fractions. Fractions represent parts of a whole. If you get to eat one out of the eight slices of pizza, then it is equivalent to 1/8. 1/8 is a fraction, and it lets you represent what you get, share, or receive. If your partner gets 2 out of 6 pieces of chicken, that equals 2/6. If one of your kids receives half of the chocolate bar, then the fraction that represents what he or she has received is 1/2. Keep on giving examples of fractions to your kids. See examples below:
1/5
2/3
3/4
4/7
5/9
8/10
9/12
6/15
In Kids Academy Virtual Summer Camp, there are a lot of curriculum-based activities that help your little one learn fractions. Developed with the help of certiifed teachers, these activities allow students to reach the top of math skills even at an early age!
Ask your kids to draw each fraction above. Explain that the number below the line will determine how many parts the whole number is to be divided, and the number above the line is the part being taken or considered. Once they are able to draw a whole divided into parts, let them shade the indicated number in the upper portion. If they have executed this activity successfully, tell them that the number above the line or bar is the numerator, and the number below the line or bar is called the denominator. Thus, numerator is the taken part, and the denominator is the number of equal parts. Using the same set of examples, let the kids identify the numerators and the denominators.
1/5 (Numerator: 1; Denominator: 5)
2/3 (Numerator: 2; Denominator: 3)
3/4 (Numerator: 3; Denominator: 4)
4/7 (Numerator: 4; Denominator: 7)
5/9 (Numerator: 5; Denominator: 9)
8/10 (Numerator: 8; Denominator: 10)
9/12 (Numerator: 9; Denominator: 12)
6/15 (Numerator: 6; Denominator: 15)
Is it also noteworthy to discuss that if a fraction contains the same digit for the numerator and the denominator, the fraction is equal to one. Here are the examples:
1/1 (Numerator: 1; Denominator: 1)
2/2 (Numerator: 2; Denominator: 2)
3/3 (Numerator: 3; Denominator: 3)
4/4 (Numerator: 4; Denominator: 4)
5/5 (Numerator: 5; Denominator: 5)
The previous set of fractions shows that a fraction is like dividing a numerator by the denominator. Hence if the numerator is the same as the denominator, it will always equal to one.
Expose your kids to more examples as deemed necessary. When your kids have shown a commendable understanding of the concept of fractions, you can now strengthen this learning through posing the following challenging worksheets from Kids Academy. Kids Academy produces learning resources that help sharpen the skills of students in different subjects including mathematics.
The first worksheet, Fraction Quest Worksheet, measures the understanding of your kids in terms of translating a visual representation to a fraction. If they answer this activity correctly, it means that the value of fractions makes sense to them. Therefore, they can easily imagine what part they are about to take when presented with similar cases.
The second worksheet, Match Fractions Worksheet, captures the level of mastery your kids have about fractions. Compared to the first worksheet, this activity has an increased level of difficulty as the children are prompted to choose among the five figures on the right side. Increasing the plausible choices makes it more stimulating and puzzling for your kids.
The third worksheet, Matching Fractions Worksheet, exposes your children with fractions that are equal to one. This is a great activity as they will remember this pattern more easily and will be able to recognize if a fraction has the value of one.
To wrap it up, your kids are now knowledgeable about fractions. They are aware of what numerators and denominators are. They know how to convert fractions to visual representations and vice versa. Thanks to your guidance, those learnings are all possible. With that being said, congratulations as your kids are now ready to advance to the next article, What Are Equivalent Fractions? See you on the next teaching-learning session!