Fraction Resources

Fractions (and rational numbers in general) have a special place in my heart. For one, they made no sense to me as a kid, so making sense of them as an adult was a very empowering experience. Second, when I led a team writing digital math curriculum for several years, we were responsible for the rational numbers strand, including fractions, decimals, and ratios.

I decided to create this page to gather together the posts and resources I’ve created over the years to support teachers in teaching and students in learning about fractions. Enjoy!

Resources

  • Let’s Be Reasonable: Fostering Fraction Sense – These are my slides from my CAMT 2017 session. This is a treasure trove of resources, several of which are also listed below.
  • Fraction Applet – I designed and my very kind husband built this applet for me. I’m past due to write a post about it, but in the meantime, click the link, play, and see for yourself what it has to offer.
  • Number Line Flip – This activity originally comes from the book Beyond Pizzas and Pies. The linked document contains even more number lines you can use across a variety of denominators.
  • Comparing Fraction Stories – I created three digital “books” that each focus on comparisons around a particular strategy. Check out this post to read more about them.
  • Modeling Fraction Division – In response to a Twitter conversation, I created this document to provide various examples of modeling fraction division using rectangular (linear) models.
  • A Gallon of Ice – This 3-Act Task is designed to help 3rd grade students reason about measuring liquids, including fractional amounts.

Blog Posts

  • Fraction Representations – In this blog post, I talked about the importance of students encountering and making sense of a variety of fraction representations.
  • Weighty Matters – In this blog post, I shared a measuring activity designed to get students thinking about fractions on a number line.
  • Is 1/2 Always Greater Than 1/3?  – In this blog post, I spent some time reasoning about the role the whole plays when discussing and comparing fractions.
  • Of – In this blog post, I shared a Twitter conversation I had where we discussed why/how the word “of” means to multiply, and then I attempted to make some meaning of it myself.
  • Interpretation Frustration – I spend a lot of my time immersed in the Texas math standards (TEKS). In this post, I shared an exchange I had with TEA while trying to make sense of our fraction standards back when they went live with teachers and students.
  • Ratios and Rates – After taking part in #MSMathChat, I was inspired to write a 5-part series on ratios and rates.