Adapting the activity

The activity can be adapted by folding different strips of paper in various ways. For example, a long strip of paper could be folded into six identical adjacent rectangles. With younger children the strip might have an object drawn on each of the six rectangles so that children can count them aloud. As the strip is folded, so that the children see some of the objects while others are hidden from their view, they might be asked to say how many they can see and how many are hidden, then use these numbers to identify pairs of numbers that total six. Other strips or sheets of paper may be used to represent numbers greater or smaller than six.

A strip of ten rectangles might have fractions marked on them. For example, tenths are marked in the rectangles on one side of the sheet and, on the other side, fifths are marked in larger rectangles made up of two of the smaller ones. Alternatively, combinations of decimal and percentage equivalents might be incorporated. Other families of fractions might be used by folding a strip or sheet of paper in other ways.

Children might be set related tasks in other areas of the curriculum. For example, in art children analyse the way colour is used in abstract paintings. Children might design and create their own resources to support their work on whole numbers or fractions. They might strengthen their proportional reasoning through analysis of diagrams or charts that incorporate different shapes or use them to represent quantities.