How to Teach Kids to Add Fractions
When teaching kids how to add fractions, show them that fractions are everywhere. When slicing a watermelon, sharing orange sections or adding the number of equal pieces of a circle, you can teach about fractions in everyday life. Teaching students to add fractions allows them to find the sum of parts. It also shows how many parts make the object complete. You can do a simple exercise involving circles and parts of circles to introduce learners to adding fractions.
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Things You'll Need
- Scissors
- Construction paper
- Multiplication table (if not completely memorized)
Instructions
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One half a watermelon Cut a piece of construction paper in the shape of a circle, and then into two halves. Take one piece and ask, "How many pieces do I have?" (one). Ask how many pieces make a whole circle (two). Show the fraction 1/2 on a piece of paper, and say, "I have one piece, and two pieces complete the circle.
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Add the second piece and ask, "How many pieces do I have now" (2) and "Do I have enough pieces to make a circle?" (yes). Put the two halves together and write "1/2 + 1/2 = 2/2." Note that when the top and bottom numbers of a fraction are the same, it equals one.
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Cut another circle into three equal pieces, show the first third of the three sections and ask, "How many pieces do I have?" (one) and "How many pieces make the circle complete?" (three)
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Write the fraction 1/3 on a piece of paper and show the 1/3 piece of the circle. Ask what number is on the top (1), what number is on the bottom (3) and which is the numerator and denominator.
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Take another third of the circle and ask, "Is this a whole, a half or a third of a circle?" If the learner recognizes that the two one-third pieces are the same, put them together and write the math problem "1/3 + 1/3."
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Ask the student if the top numbers (numerators) are added or stay the same (added). Then ask if the bottom number (denominators) is added or stays the same (stays the same). Ask for the sum (2/3).
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Join the 1/2 and 1/3 pieces together and ask the students to add 1/3 and 1/2. If students can't think of an answer, say, "To add the fractions correctly, the denominators must be the same, and I will show how this is done."
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Write "1/2 + 1/3" on a piece of paper or board. Ask, "What number can be divided by both two and three?" The answer is six.
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Write "1/3 * 2/2= 2/6," while saying, "To make the denominator six, multiply the both the top and bottom numbers by 2." Write "1/2 x 3/3 = 3/6." Add the top numbers two and three, and keep the bottom number at six. The sum is 5/6.
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References
- Photo Credit cherry pie image by Leticia Wilson from Fotolia.com half water melon image by AGphotographer from Fotolia.com
