Teaching Fractions

Today lesson on fractions was interesting. It was challenging for the students in the group and they found this confronting. Many students in my class have been struggling with fractions and moving into more challenging fraction concepts. 

I am learning to find fractions of lengths, including seeing when a fraction is greater than one.

Diagnostic Snapshot Ask the students questions such as: • “How much chocolate will each person get if we share five chocolate bars with four people?” • 

I started by using materials (colored paper) and we had a go at cutting the paper into equal parts and seeing if we could work out how much chocolate each person would get. I also used whiteboards and students could manipulate the fractions more and if they changed their mind they could rub out what they did and try again. One student in my class found using the materials very successful- she seemed to click, with being able to manipulate the paper 

So what?

This weekend I'm going to look into Book 7: Teaching fractions, decimals, and percentages to become more familiar with how to teach a high level of fractions. 

Maths Programme

For the last year I have been running my Maths programme around a structure called the 'Daily 3'. It has been one of my most effective and successful curriculum areas. The approach focuses on giving the students the opportunity to work on Maths in three different way; Maths by yourself, Maths with a buddy and Maths with a group. Each area focuses on building particular skills around the Maths curriculum e.g problem solving, communicating using mathematical vocabulary. Each week students are given number knowledge questions to complete independently and strategy questions that focus on the stratgies they are learning in workshops. I have seen a huge improvement with how the students are communicating about maths and their response to our maths sessions. Student engagement is at a high during maths times. The success of my program can be identified through the structure and maths workshops I take. Each student will attend 2-3 workshops a week to focus on gaps in their learning- I use modelling books to record the sessions and upload them online immediately after the workshop to provide extra support when students are working independently. I have recently found a website called "Maths learning centre" this has been a great tool that I have used the last two weeks in my workshops- students have loved using it and it is a quick way to 'set up' support for a strategy - E.g the number line section (See picture below). Students are now able to use it independelty and it a great resource to support learners who need extra visual aids. 

The frames section in the website has been useful for my Stage early 5 Maths group who are currently learning to 'manipulate numbers'. (WALT- solve addition problems by making a tidy 10). Students have been using ten frame materials and some students were struggling to make the connection- Yesterday when using the website on our large class TV I could see many students making connections. Perhaps the digital technology was able to clearly show them how to make a tidy 10. My next step for my maths program is to get students to use screencastify for their maths work; I am hoping to see an increase in maths vocabulary and see students articulating their ideas around maths and problems solving at a higher level. This will be great evidence for their learning and help me provide next steps for them.