Description
What our Interpret Division of a Unit Fraction lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Interpret Division of a Unit Fraction teaches students how to divide a unit fraction by a whole number. At the end of the lesson, students will be able to divide a unit fraction by a non-zero whole number using the standard algorithm and a visual fraction model to show the quotient. 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 physically cut or manipulate sheets of paper to demonstrate dividing by a whole number by having them cut out one half, one third, or one fourth and then divide that piece into a given whole number. For students who grasp the concept quickly, you could also have them begin to explore fractions outside of the unit fraction.
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.
INTERPRET DIVISION OF A UNIT FRACTION LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Interpret Division of a Unit Fraction
The Interpret Division of a Unit Fraction lesson plan includes three pages of content. When you divide, you’re splitting something into parts. But did you know that you can also divide fractions?
For example, say you came home from school and wanted to eat some cake that your mom made. She tells you that half of the cake is for you and your two siblings. Therefore, you need to figure out how to split half of a whole cake into three equal parts. We can write this out as a math problem: 1/2 ÷ 3 = ?. When we split a half into three parts, with the help of a visual model (like a drawing), we see that each sibling gets 1/6 of the total cake.
Fraction Divided by a Whole Number
When dividing fractions by a whole number, it can be very helpful to create a visual model. However, you won’t always be able to draw a picture when you need to divide. To divide a fraction by a whole number, the first step is to make the whole number into a fraction by placing it over a 1.
There are three steps to follow to divide a fraction. First, keep the first fraction the same. Second, change the division sign to a multiplication sign. Third, flip the last fraction in order to use the reciprocal.
We can use this method to easily solve our earlier cake example mathematically. We need to make the whole number into a fraction before solving. As we’ve learned, to do this we need to place the whole number over 1. 3 becomes 3/1. Then, we solve! First, we keep the first fraction the same: 1/2. Next, we change the division to multiplication: 1/2 x 3/1. Finally, we flip the last fraction and solve: 1/2 x 1/3 = 1/6. The final answer is 1/6!
The lesson includes another example problem, 1/3 ÷ 5. We make the whole number into a fraction: 5/1. Then we solve by first keeping the first fraction the same: 1/3. Next, we change the division to multiplication: 1/3 x 5/1. Finally, we flip the last fraction and solve: 1/3 x 1/5 = 1/15.
The lesson shows the second example problem visually as well. First, it shows one third by coloring in one of three boxes green. Next, it shows how to divide that third into 5 sections. Because the numerator is 1, we only want 1 of the 5 sections, or 1/15 of the total. This is visually represented by showing 1 of 15 boxes colored in green.
When you divide a unit fraction by a whole number, the numerator is always 1 and you multiply the denominator by the whole number. This is a very easy way to solve these problems. But be careful! We can only use this method to solve this specific kind of problem, so don’t try to use it to solve other kinds of division problems.
INTERPRET DIVISION OF A UNIT FRACTION LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Interpret Division of a Unit Fraction 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 A WORD PROBLEM ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
Students will work in groups to complete the lesson activity. Each group will work together to write a word problem and show a visual and mathematical solution for the expression 1/2 ÷ 5.
SOLVING PROBLEMS PRACTICE WORKSHEET
For the practice worksheet, students will solve nine division problems.
INTERPRET DIVISION OF A UNIT FRACTION HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
The homework assignment asks students to solve two word problems involving division of a unit fraction. For each, they will also draw a picture to support their reasoning.
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.
