How Many in a Whole?

Standard:
1.3

The student will identify the parts of a set and/or region that
represent fractions for halves, thirds, and fourths and write the
fractions.

Objective: Students will:

Understand that a fraction represents a part of a whole.

Understand that fractional parts are equal shares of a whole.

Understand that the fraction name (half, third, fourth) tells the
number of equal parts in the whole.

Materials:
2 apples
Playdough
Plastic knives
Paper circles
Paper triangles
Paper squares
Paper rectangles
Anticipatory Set: Imagine that you had a pizza and you wanted to
split it between you and 3 of your friends. How would you divide that
pizza up so that each of you received an equal amount? Tell students
that through this activity they will learn how to divide something into
equal parts by learning about fractions.
Direct Instruction/Guided Practice: Show your students two
apples. Tell them you want to divide them up between two children and
ask how many apples each child will get. When they have answered
put away one of the apples. Tell them Now I only have one apple, but I
still need to divide it evenly between two children. How many apples
will each child get? They should come up with cut the apple in half.
Ask where you should cut the apple to get halves. Offer them some
choices such as a third to the right, middle, or a third to the left. Lead
them to discover that any other slice but right in the middle will lead to
unequal parts.
Cut the apple and show them the two parts. Emphasize that two equal
parts of the apple are called halves, and that when you put them
together you get a whole. Ask them which is bigger, a half or a whole.
Ask them if there is any difference between the size of the two parts.
Now take the sliced apple, holding it as a whole with the two halves

together. Tell the students that now you need to give even portions to
four students. Allow them to discuss this problem. Guide them to
saying to cut the halves in half again, making four quarters. Tell
students that these are called quarters, and ask how many are needed
to make a whole. Ask which is larger, a half or a quarter. Ask how many
quarters make one half.
Now distribute the playdough. Show the class your rectangle, and ask
them to shape their playdough into a rectangle like yours. Now tell
them they need to divide this rectangle into two halves. Allow them to
cut it with their plastic knives. If they end up with very unequal halves,
encourage them to stick the two halves back together and try again.
Cut your own rectangle in half, and demonstrate that if the halves are
equal, they will be able to stack neatly on top of each other.
Stick the two halves of the rectangle back together, and tell them that
now you dont want two halves, but four quarters. Ask them to cut
their rectangle in four quarters, and allow them to do this their own
way either two perpendicular cuts or four parallel cuts. Cut your own
rectangle with two perpendicular cuts and lay your pieces on top of
each other. Tell the class you can check your work by seeing the way
they stack neatly on top of each other. Ask them to check their own
quarters. Ask which is larger, a quarter or a half. Ask them how many
quarters make a whole.
Small Group Practice: Divide class into three groups based on
learning needs
Blue Group: Using paper circles (pizza) and squares (sandwich), have
students determine how to share a pizza equally between four people.
They can cut the parts and stack them to see if they match. Have
them repeat this process for the sandwich, but have them divide it into
three equal parts.
Green Group: Using paper circles (pizza) and squares (birthday cake),
have students determine how to share the pizza equally between six
people. Have the group repeat the process for sharing a birthday cake
with twelve people. Have the group start by dividing the cake into
three, then six, then twelve.
Red Group: Using paper rectangles (sandwiches) and triangles (slices
of pie), have students determine how to share the food in three
different ways to get two equal parts. Have them illustrate by folding
the paper. Are there other different ways to divide the shape equally?
How many ways are there? Have the group determine which shapes

circles, squares, rectangles, trianglesare easier to divide evenly and

illustrate why with a particular food of their choice
Closure: Return to the pizza question presented in the anticipatory
set. Question students on what a solution could be for dividing up the
pizza to give to 4 people. Most likely, students will realize that the
pizza should be cut in half, then cut in half again to divide the pizza
into 4 equal parts.
Evaluation: Provide students with an exit ticket that features the
question: Elizabeth and three of her friends were playing in the park.
They wanted to eat lunch, but they only had one sandwich. How could
the sandwich be divided so that each person got an equal part? Draw a
picture and label your answer as a fraction.