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Below is an example of an oral and mental activity. It is based on a simple resource, a sheet of paper, which provides a focal point for children during the activity. The sheet of paper becomes a structured resource that offers an image the children can use to support their thinking in the lesson or beyond. The oral and mental activity involves work on fractions. These are examples of questions that might be asked to stimulate discussion on fractions. As you read through the example, think about its purposes and possible applications. Identify the nature and role of the oral and mental work and how the vocabulary of the six Rs might help to describe its purpose. Below the activity are some suggestions for how the activity might be adapted for children of other ages and for developing related ideas and oral and mental work. Before reading the section, think about how you might adapt the activity for your children and how the use of some other simple resource might be developed along similar lines.
Objective: Identify and estimate fractions of shapes; use diagrams to compare fractions and establish equivalents (Year 3)
Hold up a large sheet of paper. Establish that the children can see the whole of one side of the sheet of paper and you can see the whole of the other side of the sheet. Fold the sheet in half. Note: The sheet may be folded into halves, quarters, eighths and sixteenths beforehand to make this more manageable during the lesson.
| Q: | What fraction of the whole sheet of paper can you see now? |
| Q: | What fraction of the whole sheet of paper can I see now? |
Agree that the class and you can each see half of the sheet and ½ + ½ = 1. Unfold the sheet to confirm this and refold.
Fold the folded sheet and display a quarter. Ask the same two questions and establish that ¼ + ¼ = ½, unfolding and refolding the sheet.
Continue to fold, generating eighths and sixteenths. Each time, pose the questions and agree the fraction and confirm the fraction statements.
Unfold the sheet and invite the children to recall the fractional parts they have identified and used. Write these onto the sheet (see below).
With the annotated sheet displayed, ask a series of questions involving these fractions, such as:
| Q: | How many quarters are there in the whole sheet? |
| Q: | I am looking at one half of the sheet: how many eighths can I see? |
| Q: | How many eighths are there in a quarter of the sheet? |
| Q: | How many sixteenths are there in one half of the sheet? |
| Q: | I am looking at four sixteenths, how many eighths can I see? |
| Q: | If I shaded in three eighths and you shaded one half, which part would be bigger? |
| Q: | If we removed one sixteenth, what fraction would be left? |
| Q: | I see one quarter and one eighth, how many eighths is that altogether? |
| Q: | If I halve one quarter, what fraction would this give me? |
| Q: | If I halve one sixteenth, what fraction would I get? |
| Q: | Can you explain to me what happens to the number on the bottom of the fraction as I keep halving? |
| Q: | What can you tell me about the relationship between halves, quarters, eighths and sixteenths? |
| Q: | Suppose I start with a sheet and divide it into three parts. I then divide these three parts into three parts, what fractions would I get this time? |
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