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I’ve been working hard to create more hands-on math ideas. Last week I posted about our geometry castles, but this week I have our fraction pies for you. I couldn’t have done them without one of my favorites, Ed Emberley.
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I used Picture Pie and Picture Pie 2 to show my students lots of examples. If you decide to purchase them for your classroom, I’d love it if you used my links. They’re great because they have tons of examples that really get students’ creativity going. I didn’t let students copy any of the designs, but I can see how they’d love to go back and do that during recess or reward time.
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After looking at lots of examples, it was time to make some art! I had my wonderful assistant cut lots of circles and squares in advance. Our Ellison machine had circles, but the paper cutter worked great for squares. They ended up being 3 inches and 2 inches. I started students out with any four shapes of their choice and then let them go back and get more as needed. I did have to encourage them to add more detail to their pictures and actually cut the original shapes. If students leave the shapes whole, there won’t be much fraction math to do at the end of the lesson.
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I made this chart to guide students through the math. It was tricky, but they really started to see the relationships between fractions of different denominators. I had students partner up to check each others’ work, but this was really just my sneaky way of making sure everyone had solved a complicated picture. Shhh, don’t tell. =)
In the end, the pictures were so cute I just had
to put them in the hallway. You can grab our sign if you want it. If you decide to do this activity with your
class, I’d love to see your final products!
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Those are so cute!! Thanks for sharing!
Jennie
JD's Rockin' Readers
I love Ed Emberley's books! I used to do a similar project (less variety in the shapes, the kids made fraction robots) but yours are much cuter! Thanks, Christi!
Linda
Primary Inspiration
Super cute! Thanks for sharing it on Manic Monday!
Shawna
The Picture Book Teacher's Edition
You're all so welcome. I am so proud of my kiddos. Now if we could only master long division… 😉
These look great! Your kids are really creative. I have read Go Away Big Monster by Emberley. If I recall correctly, his wonderful use of shapes is what made the book stand out to me.
Cute art!! Your kids did such an awesome job!!
Nicole
Rowdy in Room 300