Description
What our Interpret Fraction Products lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Interpret Fraction Products teaches students about multiplying fractions and how to represent those problems with a visual model. At the end of the lesson, students will be able to multiply fractions by a whole number. Using this understanding, students will be able to create a visual model and story to accompany the mathematical problem. 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 is to differentiate the fraction cards for different groups of students. You can also use a spinner to determine the fraction or draw a playing card to find a whole number.
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 FRACTION PRODUCTS LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Interpret Fraction Products Multiplication
The Interpret Fraction Products lesson plan includes three content pages. To multiply a fraction by a fraction, you multiply straight across the numerators and straight across the denominators. Finally, you reduce the fraction if possible. To multiply a fraction by a whole number, you first need to convert the whole number to a fraction by putting a 1 in the denominator. Then you just follow the same steps!
The lesson includes a few examples. To solve 3/4 × 5 , you first convert the whole number (5) to a fraction: 3/4 × 5/1. Then you solve as usual: 15/4 = 3 3/4.
Visual Model
Next, the lesson explores how to use visual models to explore what multiplying a fraction by a whole number looks like. The lesson starts with a picture of four boxes with one colored in red, representing the fraction 1/4. To solve the problem 1/4 x 5 = ?, we can repeat the picture of 1/4 five times. This looks like five whole squares that each have one of four boxes shaded in. When we add the shaded pieces together, we see that there are 5 total shaded pieces, so our final answer is 5/4.
The lesson includes another example with a circle divided into three sections, with two shaded in green. This represents 2/3. To solve 2/3 x 3 using pictures, we can repeat this picture three times. This gives us three whole circles with two pieces shaded in each. We add the total number of shaded pieces together for a final answer of 6/3, which we can reduce to 2.
Pictures can help us visualize math problems and make them easier to solve, especially when we’re first learning a new skill. Try solving problems using both the standard algorithm and a picture for practice!
INTERPRET FRACTION PRODUCTS LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Interpret Fraction Products 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.
STORY ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
Students will work in groups to complete the activity worksheet. In each group, students will roll dice to determine the “Who” and “Where” for their story, as each number corresponds to a different “Who” and “Where” on the worksheet. Next, they will choose a fraction and whole number. Finally, they will write their story and solve the fraction!
STANDARD ALGORITHM PRACTICE WORKSHEET
For the practice worksheet, students will solve three problems using the standard algorithm. They will then draw a visual representation of the expression to show their thinking and write a story to match the problem.
INTERPRET FRACTION PRODUCTS HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
Like the practice worksheet, for the homework assignment, students will solve a problem using the standard algorithm. They will then draw a visual representation of the expression to show their thinking and write a story to match the problem. They will also solve nine multiplication problems.
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.
