Description
What our Word Problems – Division of Fractions lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Word Problems – Division of Fractions teaches students helpful strategies for solving word problems that include the division of fractions. At the end of the lesson, students will be able to solve real world problems involving division of unit fractions by non-zero whole numbers and division of whole numbers by unit fractions. This lesson is for students in 5th grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the blue box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand.
Options for Lesson
Included with this lesson is an “Options for Lesson” section that lists a number of suggestions for activities to add to the lesson or substitutions for the ones already in the lesson. One optional adjustment to the lesson activity is to have your students create their own equations or expressions for the four problems. They can also exchange new made-up problems to share with another pair of students. An optional addition to the lesson is to use hands-on manipulatives and allow your students to create word problems using them. Finally, you could have your students use reading content, Internet articles, or other sources to find when and where real-world fraction word problems are used.
Teacher Notes
The teacher notes page includes a paragraph with additional guidelines and things to think about as you begin to plan your lesson. This page also includes lines that you can use to add your own notes as you’re preparing for this lesson.
WORD PROBLEMS – DIVISIONS OF FRACTIONS LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Word Problems – Division of Fractions
The Word Problems – Division of Fractions lesson plan includes two content pages. Fractions are parts of wholes. You can also divide fractions by whole numbers or other fractions. Without realizing it, you’ve likely used this concept to solve real-world problems before.
For example, say you ordered a pizza cut into eight pieces. When it arrived, you ate four of the pieces, or one-half. Two of your friends then come over and also want some pizza. You have four pieces left, so each of them get two pieces. By doing this, you divided one half of a pizza by 2, or 1/2 ÷ 2.
If you solved this as a division word problem, you would find out that each of your friends had one quarter of the pizza: 1/2 ÷ 2 =1/2 ÷ 2/1 = 1/2 x1/2 = 1/4. To solve, you inver the divisor (or flip it upside down) and then multiply.
To solve real-world problems using the division of fractions and whole numbers, you can use visual models or equations.
Another Example
Let’s think about another example. Say you have four sticks of butter that you want to use to make cookies. To make a dozen cookies, you need one eighth of a stick of butter. Knowing this, how many dozens of cookies could you make using your eight sticks of butter?
To solve, you could create an equation where d = dozens. First, you need to determine how many eights are in four whole sticks of butter. You then solve using your equation: d = 4 ÷1/8 = 4/1 x 8/1 = 32/1 = 32 dozens of cookies can be made.
When you solve real-world problems, you need to pay attention to any key words. Some of these include divided by, evenly, shared, split, cut up, spread evenly, and equal parts. If you see or hear any of these words, that means you need to divide.
To start, ask yourself what is being divided and how much is it being divided by? In the example with the pizza, the half pizza was being divided by 2, since it was being shared by two people. In the example with the butter, the butter was being divided by eighths.
If you look for these keywords and other clues, you’ll be able to solve word problems using the division of fractions easily! Remember that you can also use visual models and equations. The more you practice, the easier it will get!
WORD PROBLEMS – DIVISION OF FRACTIONS LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Word Problems – Division of Fractions lesson plan includes three worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, and a homework assignment. You can refer to the guide on the classroom procedure page to determine when to hand out each worksheet.
CREATING PROBLEMS ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
Students will work with a partner to complete the activity worksheet. Each pair will create a real-world problem for each of the fraction division problems listed on the worksheet. Once their stories are complete, they will solve them using drawings, pictures, or other strategies.
SOLVING PROBLEMS PRACTICE WORKSHEET
The practice worksheet asks students to solve word problems that include the division of fractions.
WORD PROBLEMS – DIVISION OF FRACTIONS HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
For the homework assignment, students will solve word problems and draw a picture or use an equation to help show the solution.
Worksheet Answer Keys
This lesson plan includes answer keys for the activity worksheet, the practice worksheet, and the homework assignment. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
