Description
What our Dividing Fractions with Whole Numbers lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Dividing Fractions with Whole Numbers teaches students how to solve division problems that include unit fractions. At the end of the lesson, students will be able to divide unit fractions by whole numbers and 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 addition to this lesson is to have your students create a poster showing how to divide whole numbers and fractions. You could also use fraction manipulatives to show how to divide fractions by whole numbers or whole numbers by fractions. Finally, you could have your students write a paragraph explaining the process and steps without examples of images.
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.
DIVIDING FRACTIONS WITH WHOLE NUMBERS LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Division
The Dividing Fractions with Whole Numbers lesson plan includes four pages of content. You’re probably familiar with how to divide whole numbers by other whole numbers, but did you know that all numbers can be divided? Quotients, or the answers to division problems, can be whole numbers, decimals, or written as fractions.
For example, if you want to split a sheet of paper in half, you’re dividing it by one-half to get two smaller sheets of paper or two halves of a single piece of paper. When added together, the pieces equal one whole piece of paper. We can divide all whole numbers by fractions and all fractions by whole numbers.
Dividing Fractions and Whole Numbers
Sometimes, you need to divide fractions by whole numbers or whole numbers by fractions. Maybe you have half of a pizza and you want to share it with three friends. You would write that division problem as 1/2 ÷ 3. To solve, you first change the whole number/divisor to a fraction: 3 = 3/1. Next, you invert (flip) the new fraction to make it 1/3. Third, you change the problem to multiplication: 1/2 x 1/3. Finally, multiply as usual: 1/2 x 1/3 = 1/6. Therefore, each of your friends receive 1/6th of the whole pizza!
You can also divide a whole number by a fraction. Say you have three whole pizzas and want to divide them into quarters. You would write that problem as 3 ÷ 1/4. To solve, you first change the whole number to a fraction: 3/1. Next, invert the divisor to make it 4/1. Third, change the problem to multiplication: 3/1 x 4/1. Finally, multiply: 3/1 x 4/1 = 12/1 = 12. Therefore, if you divide three whole pizzas by one quarter, you will end up with 12 total pieces.
Step-by-Step
As seen in the examples above, you always follow four basic steps when dividing fractions by whole numbers or whole numbers by fractions. First, change the whole numbers to fractions. Second, invert the fraction divisor. Third, change the problem to multiplication. Finally, multiply as usual!
After multiplying, make sure to change any improper fractions to mixed numbers or reduce if necessary. Dividing whole numbers with fractions is as easy as multiplying them, as long as you remember to invert the divisor and change the problem from division to multiplication.
DIVIDING FRACTIONS WITH WHOLE NUMBERS LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Dividing Fractions with Whole Numbers 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. Each pair will create four word problems, two of which must include whole number division by a fraction and the other two of which must include a fraction being divided by a whole number. After they create their problems, they will swap them with another group to solve.
Students may also work either alone or in groups for this activity.
DIVISION PRACTICE WORKSHEET
The practice worksheet asks students to solve 24 division problems.
DIVIDING FRACTIONS WITH WHOLE NUMBERS HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
For the homework assignment, students will solve five word problems. They will also use a drawing to show how to divide one-half of a rectangle by four.
Worksheet Answer Keys
This lesson plan includes answer keys for 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.
