Welcome

to Ms.
Stines
3rd Grade
Class!
October 2017
Volume 1, Issue 1 Technology Newsletter

Dear Parents,
Welcome to our classroom! We are beginning our
next unit on rational numbers, starting with
fractions, and then moving on to decimals, ratios,
and proportions. Two programs we will be using
over the next few weeks are the National Library
of Virtual Manipulatives website and an app
Table of called Equivalent Fractions. It is highly
encouraged for students to access these programs
Contents at home for extra practice. These programs will
National Library of help supplement our math curriculum with the
Virtual Manipulatives: use of technology. We are excited to share this
Naming Fractions new technology with you and hope you explore it
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with your children as well! If you have any
questions at all, feel free to contact me!
Everyday Mathematics:
Equivalent Fractions Ms. Stine email: teacher@bc.edu
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 Naming
Lorem Ipsum Dolor National Library
[Issue]of
:: [Date]

Fractions Virtual Manipulatives

Website: http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html

The National Library of Virtual

Manipulatives is an online program that has web-
based apps and activities for students to explore.
These apps can be used as supplements to the K-
12 mathematical curriculum to enhance students
understanding of various mathematical concepts.
There are five different topic areas to choose from:
Number & Operations, Algebra, Geometry,
Measurement, and Data Analysis & Probability.
Within each topic, there are different web-based
activities based on grade levels. Since our topic of
study currently is rational numbers, we will
choose Numbers and Operations for grades 3-5.
One exemplary interactive app that we will
incorporate into our classroom is called Naming
Fractions. The screen will show a shape that is
split in several parts with some pieces shaded in.
Students are then asked to name the fraction
shown by the shape. This will help students learn
that the numerator is how many parts of the
fraction are shaded, and the denominator
represents the total number of equal sized pieces
the whole shape is split into. One important thing
to note is that the instructions dont specify that
the pieces you need to count are the shaded ones.
For example, the first picture on the left is divided
into 11 parts of equal size, with 5 of those parts
shaded in. Therefore, the fraction represented by
that picture would be 5/11. Once the students have
an answer, they will hit the check button. If they
are correct, the screen will say, Yes, you are
correct! If, for example, the students type in the
wrong number for the denominator, the screen will
say, The denominator isnt correct. Count the
pieces and try again, as shown in the last picture
on the left. This program provides scaffolding for
the students to succeed, guiding instead of simply
telling students the correct answer.
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Lorem Ipsum Dolor
Everyday Mathematics: Issue [#] :: [Date]
Equivalent Fractions
In other technology news, our classroom
will not only be using apps on the computers
but on iPads as well. One app I want to
highlight is called Everyday Mathematics:
Equivalent Fractions. This game is appropriate
for students in upper elementary school. This
app allows students a new and engaging way to
learn about equivalent fractions. This program
also provides scaffolding for students because
there are varying levels of support and ways to
match the cards, which I will mention in my
description of how to play the game.
In this card game, the objective is to
match equivalent fractions together. For each
card, the number of shaded parts of the whole
represents the fraction, and the fraction is also
written. There are two cards at the bottom of
the screen to draw from, and students need to
match them to an equivalent fraction card. If
students are not sure if the fractions are
equivalent, they can drag the card from the top
to the bottom. This allows them to compare the
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cards side by side and see if the same
portions of the cards are shaded. This is an
example of how scaffolding is provided so
students can correctly match the cards. If
they dont know that 1/2=2/4 off the top of
their head, there are pictorial
representations by the bars on the card for
students to use as extra support.
This app is useful because it helps
students learn how to simplify fractions,
such as with the example 5/10=2/4.
Students can visually see that half of the
bars are shaded in for each card, so
5/10=1/2. For the fraction 2/4, students can
again see that half of the bars are shaded,
so 2/4 therefore is equal to 1/2. If 5/10=1/2
and 2/4=1/2, then 5/10=2/4 and are
equivalent fractions. This is an example of
the transitive property of equality: if a=b
and b=c, then a=c. Overall, I highly
recommend this app for students to learn
about fractions in an interactive way.
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