Today's Classroom Activities :

Factoring Fractions

Fruity Fractions
Math Upon introducing fractions, Hand out plastic apple corers for your students to trace with dark pencils. Students then fill in the various segments with different colors and create a color-coded key that indicates the fractions and their corresponding colors.

Math madness
These third-grade teachers have come up with a great program for Fridays called "Math Madness." Students do hands-on math projects, contests, word problems, games, etc. There are prizes, lots of movement, lots of noise...and lots of learning going on. A six-book series that has been useful for this program is "Math All Around" by Jennifer Rozines Roy and Gregory Roy (Marshall Cavendish, 2005, ISBN: 0-761-41997-7). Titles include Addition in the Forest, Number on the Street, Patterns in Nature, Sorting at the Ocean, Subtraction at School and Holiday Fractions. When introducing seasons, Patterns in Nature helped put the digital camera to use. Students photographed different patterns and used the book as their guide. Learning fractions is a big part of third grade, and kids were amazed at the fractions they could find in every holiday using Holiday Fractions.

Another excellent title that lends itself well to hands-on experiments including science and math is Plant Math by Patricia Whitehouse (Heinemann Library, 2002, ISBN: 1-588-10734--5).

Equivalent Fraction Munch with Pizza Pie
At the end of this lesson student will be able to describe the importance of fractions in everyday life. Define equivalent fractions and give examples. Recognize fractions that are equivalent and manipulate materials to show several examples of equivalent fractions.

Felt Fraction Common Denominators
Students will be able to demonstrate awareness of the concept of fraction equivalencies and common denominators. Students will also be able to correctly write addition equations which are represented in the felt board equations.

Pumpkin Pie for All!
The students will take a basic pie recipe and will multiply a fractional amount to make enough for their class.