3rd Grade Fractions Unit Plan

Overview
Unit Objective
SWBAT identify fractions as wholes and parts through pictures, models, and numbers and
compare these identities with fractions of like denominators and those that are equivalent before
performing mathematical operations on them.

Description of teachings in unit

Fractions can be a complicated mathematical concept to understand and therefore, instruction
must be thorough, explicit, and purposeful. The educator should supply children with meaningful
practice and allow them to explore fractions through a variety of manipulative and pictorial
representations for better mastery of the subject. With this being said, the teachings within this
unit begin with the foundations of fractions in the sense of the meaning, parts, and the message
they convey to the learner. Within the introductory set of lessons to teach fractions, students will
be introduced to basic fractions including one half, one third, one fourth, one fifth, one sixth, one
eighth, one tenth, and one twelfth. They will explore these fractions through the construction of
their models and practice in identifying them in real contexts. To further students’ study of
fractions, they will begin comparing them to one another with like numerator, denominators and
as equivalents. These lessons are highlighted below and overall will be instructed through
student centered activities of comparing fractions with greater and less than symbols and creating
equivalent ones through multiplication. The capstone teaching in this unit will be comparing
fractions with different numerators and denominators to assist students in addition and
subtraction of fractions. Students must have an understanding before doing any operations with
fractions, their sizes and in comparison to one another, as well as their equivalency to other
fractions. Addressing fractions with unlike numerators and denominators is crucial as in real
contexts; this is the way they appear. Furthermore, exploring unlike fractions provide the
opportunity to instruct on finding a lowest common denominator which will also be used when
students practice adding and subtracting fractions. All lessons employ unique instruction that had
hands on practice and applications for students so as to better understand fractions in our daily
lives.

Lesson Plans

Introduction
The following lessons would be capstone lessons to the unit on fractions. These lessons come at
the end of the unit as they require the foundational understandings of fractions as parts from
holes and identifying fractions pictorially and numerically. These concepts should be taught at
the beginning of the unit so that students are developmentally prepared to manipulate and
compare fractions as in the lessons that follow.

Lesson 1- Comparing Fractions with Like Denominators

Standards: Number and Operations—Fractions 3.NF
3. Explain equivalence of fractions in special cases, and compare
fractions by reasoning about their size.
d. Compare two fractions with the same numerator or the same
 denominator by reasoning about their size. Recognize that
comparisons are valid only when the two fractions refer to the
same whole. Record the results of comparisons with the symbols
>, =, or <, and justify the conclusions, e.g., by using a visual
fraction model.
Objectives: SWBAT compare and order fractions with like denominators
TLWD comprehension and application of ordering fractions with like denominators
by recognizing their numerical amounts as being greater than, less than or equal to
one another.
Procedure: 1. Review with students the meanings of the numerator and denominator. What does
each one tell? Identify with an example. It may help to write a fraction on the
board (3/8) and label each part.
(Numerator- tells how many fractional pieces there are. The fraction 3/8 indicates
that there are three pieces.)
(Denominator- tells how many pieces an object was divided into. The fraction 3/8
indicates that the whole object was divided into 8 pieces.)
2. Draw a representation of the wholes of two fractions with the same denominator
and the fraction written underneath it. For practice, call on a student for each
fraction to shade in the regions to make the fraction true. (i.e. draw a box with four
regions and under one box write one fourth, under the other box write three
fourths.)
3. Ask student to study the picture and choose the figure that has more space shaded
in or the greater fraction. Call on a student to show which fraction is greater by
putting in a greater than or less than symbol (>,<).
4. Repeat processes 2 and 3 two to three more times with different fractions. After
a few trials, ask students what they observed about fractions with like
denominators. You should be looking to see if students grasped the understanding
that if two fractions have the same denominator, then the fraction with the largest
numerator is the larger of the two fractions. Show this by erasing the denominators
of the fractions you practiced shading with and ask if the greater then, less than
and equal to signs still apply.
5. Further explain to students that this is so with your first example. Between 3/8 and
5/8, 5/8 is larger because out of eight pieces, five of them are accounted for as
opposed to only three.
6. to have students practicing ordering fractions now that they know a method to
finding whether they are greater than or less than one another, assign every
student a denominator in which they must order on a number line or sentence strip.
(i.e.: you assign a student with the denominator 5, so he/ she will order fractions
1/5, 2/5, 3/5, 4/5, 5/5, 6/5, 7/5, etc. up to ten in the numerator on a number line to
be displayed in the front of the classroom.)
7. While students work on these lines, assess their understanding by asking how they
are ordering their fractions. You should be looking for them to respond with
consideration of the numerator and organizing them from least to greatest.
8. Extend students practice with the worksheet from the link that students will
complete independently at their desks or if time does not permit this, for
homework. - http://prek-8.com/3rdgrade/fractionCompare5.html
Assessment: Students will be assessed based on whether they ordered their fractions correctly on
their number line/ sentence strip and could explain orally to you when going around
the method for ordering this way being the consideration of greater or less than
numerators. Accuracies on the worksheet will also be noted as an informal
assessment.

Lesson 2- Comparing Fractions with like Numerators, Unlike Denominators

Standards: Number and Operations—Fractions 3.NF
3. Explain equivalence of fractions in special cases, and compare
fractions by reasoning about their size.
d. Compare two fractions with the same numerator or the same
denominator by reasoning about their size. Recognize that
comparisons are valid only when the two fractions refer to the
same whole. Record the results of comparisons with the symbols
>, =, or <, and justify the conclusions, e.g., by using a visual
fraction model.
Objectives: SWBAT compare and order fractions with like numerators
TLWD comprehension and application of ordering and comparing fractions with like
numerators through recognition of their greater than, less than or equal sizes.
Procedure: 1. Review with students again review the meanings of the numerator and
denominator. What does each one tell? Identify with an example. It may help to
write a fraction on the board (3/8) and label each part.
(Numerator- tells how many fractional pieces there are. The fraction 3/8 indicates
that there are three pieces.)
(Denominator- tells how many pieces an object was divided into. The fraction 3/8
indicates that the whole object was divided into 8 pieces.)
2. Review from yesterday that to find the greater of two fractions with the same
denominator, you simply consider the number that is greater in the numerator
because it states the number considered out of how many total parts.
3. On the over head projector, have a transparency of one fractional model (i.e. a
circle) with the same numerator but a different denominator as another
transparency (depicted by shaded regions, etc). Make sure that the fraction is
written underneath the picture and that both picture and fraction are in two
different colors.
4. Show them separately and survey student to see which one they think will be
greater.
5. Place the transparencies over one another and have children see which color there
is more of than the other.
6. Repeat this with different fractions and slowly work to seeing the two fractions
separately, rather than overlapping one another. Have students continuing shading
regions of overhead practice problems to solidify their understandings of fractional
parts.
7. Finally, ask students what they observe. Students should be noticing that if the
numerators of two fractions are the same, the fraction with the smaller
denominator is the greater of the two. Explain that this is so because there are
fewer holes to fill in pieces of. (I.e. 5/8 is larger than 5/16 because each fraction
 says there are five pieces but if an object is divided into 8 pieces, each piece will
be larger than if the object were divided into 16 pieces. Therefore, five larger
pieces are more than five smaller pieces.)
8. Have students deal out fraction card to one another as if they were playing a card
game. Students will alternate putting down a card of a fraction and the other
student must put down a card higher than the one their opponent has put down.
They must have the same numerator. The person with the most cards in the end
wins. After a few rounds allow students to compete with same numerators and
same denominators to practice comparing fractions with same denominator.
9. Students will complete a worksheet similar to the one in the previous lesson only
with same numerators as independent class work practice or for homework.
Assessment: While students are playing the card game, walk around and ask the winner of the
round how they knew they were the winner. The students should be able to respond
that they knew they won because their denominator was smaller and thus their
whole was divided into larger pieces. Also use the worksheet as an informal
assessment and to check for accuracies in their work.

Lesson 3- Identifying equivalent Fractions

Standards: Number and Operations—Fractions 3.NF
3. Explain equivalence of fractions in special cases, and compare
fractions by reasoning about their size.
a. Understand two fractions as equivalent (equal) if they are the
same size, or the same point on a number line.
b. Recognize and generate simple equivalent fractions, e.g., 1/2 =
2/4, 4/6 = 2/3). Explain why the fractions are equivalent, e.g., by
using a visual fraction model.

Objectives: SWBAT identify and create equivalent fractions

TLWD comprehension and application of creating equivalent fractions with a
student inquired method.
Procedure: 1. Tell students that today you will be in search of equivalent fractions and that
equivalent fractions are fractions that have the same value or represent that same
part of an object.
2. Students will be instructed to find fractions equivalent to one half. Tell students
that they are to use fractions stacks and remove the one half stack and measure up
all other stacks to the same height as one half.
3. Have the students record the fractions they have made from the stacks.
4. Gather students together to list the equivalent fractions that they found.
5. Ask students if they notice anything about the fractions they listed to one half.
What is similar/dissimilar? Some students will see that whatever the numerator is
multiplied by, the denominator is too by the same number.
6. Clarify and explain that fractions are equivalent when the numerator and
denominator of one fraction are multiplied by the same number. Demonstrate this
with all fractions equivalent to one half.
7. Put up another fraction (ie. one third or one fourth) and ask students to come up
one by one and put an equivalent fraction for the fraction you have chosen. Instruct
 them to not repeat any. After all students have had a turn, go through them and ask
the child who wrote it why it is an equivalent fraction. What did they multiply the
numerator and denominator by?
7. Have students with a partner play the equivalent fractions matching game. It is
similar to memory but including remembering where each fraction was, they must
also decide if the cards that they over turn are equivalent.
http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/fractions/fractions-matching-game.pdf
8. For classwork or homework, students should work independently on the equivalent
fractions worksheet where they must complete the missing fractions part to make it
equivalent to the other.
http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/fractions/equivalent-fractions.pdf
Assessment: Assess students informally as they play the game, by glancing at their cards and
questioning them as to why the cards they matched were equivalent. Ask how they
found their equivalency. You will know that students understand the concepts of
equivalent fractions if they tell you they have found them through multiplying the
numerator and denominator by the same number.

Unit Assessment

Description of assessment design

The assessment was designed for students to showcase their mastered skills of the concepts of
fractions that were instructed throughout the unit. The assessment begins with introductory
questions to fractions including what they mean mathematically, identifying parts within wholes,
and writing fractions properly with attention to the numerator and denominator. The problems
through which students will demonstrate their mastery of this will be similar to the ones they
have been given in homework or as class work. The purpose of any assessment is not to surprise
students with new information. Thus the problems in this exam have children performing similar
procedures to what they have done before. As the test progresses, problems become more
complex just as in unit. Toward the middle of the test, students will practice concepts highlighted
in the plans for this lesson: comparing fractions with like denominators and numerators and
finding equivalent fractions. Students will be tested on this material in a similar way it was
practiced. Students will compare fractions using greater than or less than symbols and will be
asked how to find which fraction is greater for same denominator and same numerators. Also,
students will have to explain how they find equivalent fractions, make them and determine if the
ones given are equivalent. The final few components of the exam will consist of performing
operations of addition and subtraction after solving problems that compared fractions with unlike
denominators and unlike numerators. The test is structured so so that students could practice
finding common denominators before using the information and method to solve. Students will
perform comparing fractions with unlike numerator and denominators using greater than and less
than symbols. They must also explain what a common denominator and show how to find one
between two uncommon fractions. Using these tools, they must them solve addition and
subtraction problems of fractions.

Connection to Unit Objective

The assessment connects to unit objectives as students are asked to identify fractions through
representations and extend understanding of fractions by applying their knowledge of them to
compare them to one another, find their equivalencies and perform mathematical operations with
them.

Specific criteria for assessment

The assessment is composed of questions that cause students to explain their methods and
processes for solving. This is important to ask so that the educator is aware of children’s methods
as being effective or ineffective. Hence, in this assessment, students are asked explicitly how to
compare fractions with like/ unlike numerators and denominators. Students are also asked more
questions to developing the understandings to fractions and their operations in asking questions
that include fraction vocabulary. It is detrimental for students to comprehend what they are
working with before operating on it. Also in this assessment are open ended problems that
students must solve mathematically and in more than one step. For almost every problem
students must either compare problems to one another, to a figure, or determine a least common
denominator before doing any addition, subtraction, or the placing of an inequality. With this,
students must have prior knowledge and understanding of number sense, mathematical
operations, greater than or less than terminology and form, and finally geometry in order to
shade in regions or designated fractions. Overall, the concepts conveyed in this assessment are
complex but reasonable for student to understand and work through problems with. This
assessment requires multiple skills from children and for them to provide reason for their
thinking so that we may better understand it and help us in designing future instruction.

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