Fifth Grade - November 10th - 14th, 2008

Fifth graders begin their study of fractions this week. They will make fraction strips in order to look at equivalent fractions. They will explore the meaning of numerators and denominators and look at how the size of the denominator affects the size of the pieces being looked at. For example, would you rather have 1/2 of a candy bar or 1/3 of a candy bar. At first, it may seem like 1/3 is bigger because the 3 is bigger than the 2. However, when you cut one candy bar into 2 equal pieces and another candy bar into 3 equal pieces, each of the 2 pieces are bigger than each of the 3 pieces.