Step 1: Explain to the students that you have one sandwich, but you want to share it with a friend. Ask the students if they can figure out a way to share your sandwich with your friend and both of you have equal parts. Have students turn and talk with a partner to help you solve your problem. Give students time to discuss. Select a pair of students to share with the rest of the class.
Step 2: Explain to students that during this lesson they will learn to identify parts of a whole with two, three, or four equal parts.
Step 3: Read Eating Fractions, by Bruce McMillan. Stop on each page and discuss with students what the picture shows.
Step 1: Hand out the bags of clay and plastic knife. Have students locate the bag with the yellow modeling clay. They will work with their partner to discover a way to cut the yellow modeling clay role into two equal parts. The teacher will walk around the room and observe the students working cooperatively. The teacher will also observe each group dividing the clay shape into half (see assessment rubric, Identifying Fractions). Once the teacher has observed the students successfully dividing the shape into half, the teacher will have the students journal their answer by drawing a picture of their answer on the fraction recording sheet. Then the teacher will challenge the students to find another way to cut the shape into two equal parts. Give students time to explore the different ways they can divide the shape into 2 equal parts.
**Have a copy of the book Eating Fractions for students to refer to if they are having a problem.**
Step 2. Repeat the same procedure with the brown modeling clay. This time the students are dividing the shape into three equal parts. Remind the students to journal their answer. Once again, challenge the students to figure out a different way to divide the shape into 3 equal parts.
Step 3: Repeat the same procedure with the red modeling clay. This time the students are dividing the shape into four equal parts. Remind the students to journal their answer. Once again, challenge the students to figure out a different way to divide the shape into 4 equal parts.
Step 1: Have students meet back as a whole group. Ask students if the pictures they drew reminded them of any they saw in the book Eating Fractions. Show the students the pictures from the book and discuss how each picture is divided into equal parts. Have selective students demonstrate how they divided their modeling clay into halves, thirds, and fourths. Encourage students to use the fraction vocabulary in their descriptions.
Step 2: Watch I Want My Half. Choose different students to complete the interactive activities within the lesson.
Extend As an extension activity, the students will make a fraction poster. They will label the large sheet of construction paper with 1/2, 1/3, 1/4. They will take the construction paper shapes and cut them into halves, thirds, and fourths and glue them under the correct label.
As an extension activity, the students will complete the interactive game, Cross The River.
As the students are completing the activities, teacher will use the Identifying Fractions rubric to assess student understanding of fraction identification.