From Fraction to Decimal Equivalent Forms

I loved this activity! It was one of those moments when everything simply falls into place. Hooray! One of the concepts I needed to make sure my students understood was the number of ways you can write a fraction, including decimal form. CHECK! I wanted my students engaged. CHECK! I wanted conversation happening among my students. CHECK!

This activity would be great for a math warm-up, a quick review, center activity, or whole class activity like we used it! If you are interested in this activity purchase it HERE.

All of the materials were copied in different colored paper.  I personally chose to leave the first page of this activity white. This was done to help students find the first card.  After copying all of the pages I cut apart all of the strips and all off the fraction pictures. 

I placed the white strips around the room. My students sit in table groups so I gave each table two white strips. I loved leaving these strips there for a chunk of time before math. It drove a few of my students a bit mad because they really wanted to know what they were for. (Love the touch of torture!)  

(Sorry it's on its side - it wouldn't rotate.)

Before we started I took a moment to model what we were looking for in this activity. I told my students we were going to look for equivalent fractions and decimals. I wrote "1 out of 10" on the board. I then wrote 1/10 and asked if they were equivalent. If they were I left it up. If not I crossed it out. Then I asked if 0.1 works. Yes I left it. I wrote 0.01? Nope and crossed it off. Once my students had a solid understanding of the task I scattered the rest of the colorful strips randomly among my students.

I told my class that each group had a number of colored strips. They had to start with the white fraction strips at their own table, then they had to go through all of their remaining strips to check if they had any equivalent to the white strip(s) on their table. 

When they found an equivalent value they placed it below the first white strip. Once they finished going through all the strips they could move to the next white strip. My students continued to move around the room looking for anything equivalent. However, if a strip did not have an equivalent strip it goes on the “trash can”.

At the end I went through the trash can. If it was correct I gave them a happy point. If it was incorrect we fixed it and then they earned a “meh” point. Happy points they won, "meh" points I won.

Today was a success. Whether you are teaching this concept for the first time or simply reviewing this activity will keep students engaged. Check it out in my TPT store HERE.

Simplify Fractions Worksheet

My students love pixel art. I don't know what it is about coloring in little squares and watching all of those little squares become something special...but it is magic to them. When I realized we desperately needed practice simplifying fractions I knew I needed to combine the two concepts. 

Hello - brilliant!

Let me introduce you to a classroom favorite! 

The preparation is simple for this activity. Copy the blank grid worksheet for each student. Then I offer my students a little bit of advice. I tell them that a whiteboard or scratch paper can be extremely helpful. Tell them to pick a square. (Of course I model this for all to see.) I write the fraction, simplify, find the answer in the coloring code and color. If it is supposed to stay white I have my students draw a light line through it with a pencil. This lets them know it has been done and should stay white.

Next I tell my students that the next part is the most important part. They are welcome to do each fraction one square at a time. It works, but it can take a long time. Personally, I tell them, look through the puzzle finding all the other duplicates of the same fraction and color those in. This helps the picture appear a bit faster and students get excited to start to see the picture coming together. 

TA-DA! This is what our picture turns into: a delightful cupcake!

This worksheet is great for giving additional practice, a wonderful fast finisher and a spectacular piece of extra credit. Click HERE to go directly to my TPT store. Give it a try. I know you will love it - my students do!