Dot Fractions
Dot Fractions is an activity to show students how to find a fraction of a whole number.
Materials needed:
- blank index cards, 10 per student
- 30 counters per student (bingo chips, counting bears, etc.)
- question cards click here for cards pencil
1)Show the first question card.
2) Tell students the most important number is the number in the bottom of the fraction (denominator) because that number indicates the number of groups needed. Ask: How many groups do we need?" Answer: 3 because 3 is in the denominator.
3) Tell student to lay out three grouping cards.
4) Tell students to look at the number 15. This number tells them the number of counters they must place on the grouping cards. Tell students to place one counter at a time on each card until all 15 counters are placed.
Students count "one, two, three"
Students count "four, five, six"
Continue until all 15 counters are placed.
5) Tell students to look at the top of the fraction (the numerator). The number 2 means they must count the dots in only 2 of the groups. Have students move 2 grouping cards to the side.
6) Have students count the lots in two groups by counting each dot or skip counting by 5's. The answer is 10.
Things to notice:
- The number in the denominator is the number of groups.
- The number in the numerator is the number of groups to count.
- The same number of dots must be on each card.
- The number of dots on each card is not known until all the dots are divided up onto each card.
More Dot Fractions
To learn how students can transfer this skill to pencil and paper, click here. Dot Fractions Part II