We know that teaching division concepts can be tricky and confusing for many students. When teaching 3rd grade, this was the unit when a large group of students would begin to fall behind. There are so many potential reasons for this struggle: lack of number sense, multiplication facts, and not having time to develop the […]
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Teaching students to multiply fractions by a whole number doesn’t have to be terrible! When you throw the terms “multiply” and “fractions” in the same standard, it can sound a bit daunting. Fortunately, if students have a sound understanding of multiplication and fractions, this is somewhat natural for students. This post includes some of my
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Adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators typically isn’t introduced until fifth grade, so this concept isn’t too difficult for fourth graders. The most common mistake is for students to add or subtract the denominator, because they aren’t thinking about the meaning of the fraction. Fractions greater than one can also cause a challenge when
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This post includes some of my favorite lessons for teaching students to compare fractions with strategies such as: common numerator, common denominator, benchmark numbers, the missing piece, and equivalent fractions. The goal of the lessons is to help students develop concepts of relative fraction sizes. These conceptual lessons should be taught BEFORE students learn tricks
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In my Fraction Unit there is a heavy emphasis on equivalent fractions. As students develop their fraction number sense, they typically come to the realization that some same-size fractions have different names. This gives a natural transition to teaching equivalent fractions. Before teaching the procedure of multiplying the numerator and denominator by the same number,
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This post highlights four of my favorite lessons for teaching fractions on a number line. These are lessons I use with my fourth grade students. When I was teaching third grade, I used very similar lessons and incorporated a bit more practice. You can read more about third grade fractions here. You can find the
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In this post I’ve shared some of my favorite lessons for teaching fraction concepts. These lessons are designed to introduce fractions in a conceptual and meaningful way that doesn’t overly rely on rules or procedures. Most of these teaching fractions lessons can be used for both third and fourth grade students. While many of the
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Teaching multiplying with area models and partial product is a major component of fourth grade math. Before teaching multi-digit multiplication there are many concepts that are essential for student success. You can read more about those lessons here. A solid understanding of those concepts makes multiplying with area models and partial product much easier for
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Most curriculums and textbooks make a lot of assumptions. That’s especially true in math. For instance, in fourth grade, students jump right in to multiplying a 4-digit number by a one-digit whole number and then multiplying 2-digit numbers by 2-digit numbers. Years of experience has taught me that the majority of students are not ready
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Teaching multiplication as a comparison is the second portion of my multiplication unit. I begin the unit by teaching factors and multiples which you can read about here. You can certainly switch the lessons around and begin with multiplication as a comparison, though. Multiplication Situations In order for students to understand the significance of multiplication
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