Week 6 of 8
Week 6
3rd Grade → 4th Grade · Fractions intro and Paragraph writing
Math
Fractions: Parts of a Whole
Understanding a fraction as equal parts of one whole: the bottom number says how many equal parts, the top number says how many we mean. Third grade, the first time children meet fractions as numbers.
The mistake to watch for. Using the number of unshaded parts as the bottom number. The bottom number counts all the equal parts, shaded or not.
How to help. Say it out loud with the whole: “out of 8 equal slices, 3 are eaten” — three out of eight, written 3/8.
A worked example
A pizza is cut into 6 equal slices and 4 are eaten. The bottom number is how many equal slices there are in all (6). The top number is how many we mean (4). So 4/6 of the pizza was eaten, and 2/6 is left.
Words for this week
- fraction
- A number that names equal parts of a whole, like 3/4.
- numerator
- The top number in a fraction. It tells how many parts we mean.
- denominator
- The bottom number in a fraction. It tells how many equal parts the whole is cut into.
- whole
- All of something. In 3 + 4 = 7, the whole is 7.
- equal
- The same amount. The sign = means "is equal to".
Read this week
Capsicum
A short food article from our Learn library, chosen for this reading level. Read it together, then ask your child to tell you one new thing they learned.