Description
What our Interpret Division of a Whole Number by a Unit Fraction lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Interpret Division of a Whole Number by a Unit Fraction teaches students how to solve division problems where they need to divide a whole number by a fraction. At the end of the lesson, students will be able to divide a non-zero whole number by a unit fraction 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 adjustment to this lesson is to break your students into small groups based on their skill level with multiplication. You could also have any of your students who are struggling use basic fractions to understand the concept and challenge other students to begin using more difficult unit fractions.
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 WHOLE NUMBER BY A UNIT FRACTION LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Interpret Division of a Whole Number by a Unit Fraction
The Interpret Division of a Whole Number by a Unit Fraction lesson plan includes two content pages. Whole numbers are numbers without a fraction, such as 12, 37, or 1,517. Unit fractions are fractions with a numerator of one and a denominator that is a positive number, such as 1/2, 1/14, or 1/352.
To divide a whole number by a unit fraction, you first need to make the whole number into a fraction. This is easy! All you have to do is place the whole number over 1. for example, 3 become 3/1, 15 becomes 15/1, and 412 becomes 412/1.
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 follow these steps to solve a few example problems. The first example problem is 14 ÷ 1/2. 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. 14 becomes 14/1. Then, we solve! First, we keep the first fraction the same: 14/1. Next, we change the division to multiplication: 14/1 x 1/2. Finally, we flip the last fraction and solve: 14/1 x 2/1 = 28/1 = 28. The final answer is 28.
The lesson includes another example problem, 7 ÷ 1/3. We make the whole number into a fraction: 7/1. Then we solve by first keeping the first fraction the same: 7/1. Next, we change the division to multiplication: 7/1 x 1/3. Finally, we flip the last fraction and solve: 7/1 x 3/1 = 21/1 = 21.
A simpler way to divide a whole number by a unit fraction is to just multiply the whole number by the denominator. 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 WHOLE NUMBER BY A UNIT FRACTION LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Interpret Division of a Whole Number by 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.
WHITE BOARD ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
For the activity worksheet, students will use white boards and expo markers to solve practice problems. They will solve the problem on the white board and record their answers on the worksheet.
SOLVING PROBLEMS PRACTICE WORKSHEET
The practice worksheet asks students to first solve nine division problems. They will then solve a word problem that requires them to use division and draw a picture to support their thinking.
INTERPRET DIVISION OF A WHOLE NUMBER BY A UNIT FRACTION HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
For the homework assignment, students will solve two word problems, explaining their work and drawing pictures to support their thinking.
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.
