Design for Learning

Instructor: Michelle Lawless Grade Level/Cooperating Teacher: Mrs. Cooper/Fourth

Lesson Title: Which is Bigger?
Date: 4/18/16
Curriculum Area: Math/Comparing Fractions Estimated Time:
Standards Connection: 13.) Compare two fractions with different numerators and different
denominators, e.g., by creating common denominators or numerators or by comparing to a
benchmark fraction such as 1/2. Recognize that comparisons are valid only when the two fractions
refer to the same whole. Record the results of comparisons with symbols >, =, or <, and justify the
conclusions, e.g., by using a visual fraction model. [4-NF2]

Learning Objective(s): When given a worksheet students will compare fractions to using
symbols such as >,<,= with 100% accuracy.
Learning Objective(s) stated in kid-friendly language:
Today, we will be learning how to decide whether fractions are bigger or smaller than each other.
Evaluation of Learning Objective(s):
The students will be given a worksheet which they will complete individually. The students will
complete this at their desk. They will be comparing fractions to and using symbols like > , <, =
to decide which is the larger/smaller or equivalent fraction. Students who compare all fractions
correctly will be considered proficient and in the green range. Students who compare less than all
fractions correctly will be in the red range and in need of re-teaching.
Engagement:
The teacher will state the objective and set a behavior expectation. The teacher will then explain
to the students that today in our lesson we have a problem. We are going to be given two fractions
but we have to know which one is bigger. She will introduce pizzas that are cut into different
pieces and then ask the students which piece they want and why. The students will be comparing
fractions without even realizing it, the teacher will then move into the teaching. Boys and girls
today we are going to learn how to decide whether fractions are bigger or smaller than each
other. I want everyone to be on their best behavior because I dont want anyone to get their name
on the board and not get the special prize on Friday. Well first I just want to know a little about
you. You see these two pizzas on the board. Well you can see that I cut this one into four pieces
and this one into 10 pieces. Now I really love pizza, who else in here really loves pizza? Thats
awesome! So if you are really hungry and you really love pizza and you can only have one slice
of pizza from one of these, which pizza would you rather have a slice from? This pizza? Why? Oh
cause the slices are bigger! I got you! Okay well what about this pizza. I cut this Pizza into 12
pieces and we still have our pizza with 10 pieces. Now which pizza would you rather have a piece
of? Oh that one! Why? Yeah those pieces are bigger! Well guess what? You were just comparing
fractions and you didnt even realize it!
Learning Design:

I.

Teaching:
The teacher will restate the objective. The teacher will then go back to the
fractions she had on the board using the pizzas and teach comparing using the
fractions that the students have already worked with. The teacher will then tell
the students that we can use to compare our fractions. The teacher will write
two fractions on the board with in the middle. The teacher will teach how to
find out whether its greater or less than . The teacher will then tell the
students that they can use a number line to see which fractions are greater or
smaller than one another. The teacher will draw three number lines on top of

each other and give the students , 1/3 and 4/6. The teacher will number the
number lines correctly and then shade in the given parts. The students will be
able to see which ones are bigger or smaller and then the teacher will teach
them why. The teacher will do this with more examples. Okay boys and girls
like I said today we are going to learn how to figure out which fractions are
bigger or smaller than others. Just a few minutes ago you were comparing
fractions with the pizzas and you didnt even know it. Lets look at our first
pizza, if we ate one piece of this pizza what fraction of the pizza would we
have eaten? Yes! . If we ate one piece from our other pizza, what fraction of
the pizza would we have eaten? Yes! 1/10. You all decided that a piece from
this pizza would have been bigger right? Well it is bigger! Just because our
denominator on this fraction is bigger, doesnt mean the pieces we are getting
or eating from that fraction are bigger. The denominator tells us how many
pieces we have total, so if we have 10 pieces total and our numerator says we
are going to eat or shade 1, then that one piece is going to be much smaller
than if we had 4 pieces and were going to eat just one of those. So is bigger
than 1/10. We can show that it is bigger by using a symbol that looks like this
>. The big part of the symbol opens to the bigger fraction. So we would write
it like this >1/10. Lets do another. Now Im going to show you how to do
this with the help from a fraction I think we all understand . So did you
know we can use to help us figure out which fractions are greater than and
less than each other. Well Im going to show you how! Im going to write two
fractions on the board or 2/8. Now we need to figure out which one is
bigger. So if I write in the middle we can actually find our answer by
thinking about are these fractions greater than or less than half. So this
fraction is , but what is half of 4? 2! of 4 is 2! But this says 3, is 3 greater
than or less than 2? It is greater than 2, so our fraction is greater than ! So
Im going to write it over here. Lets see about 2/8. What is half of 8? Yes! 4.
But this fraction is 2/8, so is 2 less than or greater than 4? It is less than, so
2/8 is less than ! Lets practice another one! Im going to write 5/12 and 6/10
on the board. Now can someone tell me which one is less than and why?
Yes! 5/12 is less than because of 12 is 6, but our fraction says 5 which is
less than 6, so we know that 5/12 is less than . This means that 6/10 is
greater than . Can someone tell me why? Yes! Because half of 10 is 5, but
our fraction says 6 and 6 is greater than 5, so we know it is greater than .
Now I want to show you how to do this on a number line so you can see it
happening. Im going to draw three number lines and then Im going to write
a fraction next to each. This top number line is going to represent 1/8. This
middle number line is going to represent and this bottom number line is
going to represent 7/8. Lets first compare these fractions the same we have
been doing. What is half of 8? Yes it is 4! But our numerator is 1 so is 1
greater than or less than 4, its less than so 1/8 is less than . Lets do 7/8. We
know 4 is half of 8, so can someone tell me if 7/8 is greater than or less than
4? Yes it is greater than! So it is greater than . So now Im going to draw
these on a number line to show you. So Im going to start with the first one.
Since we have 8 pieces in total according to our denominator, that means we
will have 8 marks on our number line, just like how we did it last week. So our
fraction says 1/8 so Im going to shade in one of these like this. Our next
fraction says so Im going to draw one mark to split this up into 2 equal
parts. Our numerator is a 1 so Im going to shade in 1 of my two equal pieces.
Now our last one says 7/8, which means Im going to draw 8 equal parts on
this number line. Now our numerator says 7 so how many will I shade in?
Yes! 7! Look! Can you see that the 1/8 is smaller than the and that the 7/8 is
bigger than the . Remember to do this you have to first draw the correct

amount of spaces on the number line that is in your denominator. We went

over this last week. Lets do another but with just one number line. Ill draw
the number line and then I want you to place the fractions where you think
they would go in your head. Then ill call one someone to help me out. The
fractions we will be using are 1/6 and 4/6. Ill give you sometime to think
about this. I already have written and the correct amount of spaces written
which is 6 because thats how many are in our denominator or in all. So who
can come up and tell me if 1/6 is greater than or less than and then write
1/6 on the correct mark and also tell me how they know. Come on up! Great!
It is less than because half of 6 is three and 1 is less than 3. Okay, can
someone come up and do the same thing with the next one. Great! 4 is greater
than 3 so 4/6 is grater than and you put it o the fourth tick mark. Great job
guys! Now you are going to get to compare some fractions on your own!
II. Opportunity for Practice:
The students will be given a large t chart and note cards with fractions written on them.
One half of the t chart will say Less than and the other half will say Greater than
The students will put the notecards under the correct part on the t chart. They will do this
with a partner. Okay. You are going to be given a t chart and a few note cards with some
fractions on them and you will put them under the correct part of the t chart. Let me show
you first. Here is what your t chart will look like. Im going to draw it on the board. This
part says Less than and this one says greater than So you are going to put the
correct fraction underneath the correct part of the chart. So this one says 1/3, does it go
under less than or greater than . Yes it goes under less than . Good job! Do the rest of
them with your partner. We will go over them when you are finished.
III. Assessment
The students will be given a worksheet which they will complete individually. The
students will complete this at their desk. They will be comparing fractions to and using
symbols like > , <, = to decide which is the larger/smaller or equivalent fraction. Students
who compare all fractions correctly will be considered proficient and in the green range.
Students who compare less than all fractions correctly will be in the red range and in need
of re-teaching. You are now going to do something on your own. Im going to pass out a
worksheet where you will be comparing fractions using the symbols we talked about
earlier. You will write the symbol in the space between each fraction. On a few of them
you will be asked to explain to me why. I also have some challenge problems on here as
well for you to really think about. Remember the big part or mouth opens to the larger
number. You will have about 10 minutes to complete this and then I will take them up.
IV. Closure:
The teacher will do a 3,2,1 and use the student responses to review the material. Great
job today! I know want you to get out a piece of paper or I will come around and give
you one! I want you to first write three things you learned about today in our lesson. Who
can tell me one thing you learned? The teacher will use this time to answer questions and
review back over things. Okay now I want you to write 2 things you found interesting
about our lesson today. The teacher will also call on students to answer this aloud and
then she will discuss it and clear up misconceptions if any. Now I want you to write one
question you still have about today. We are not going to discuss our questions because I
want to be able to read these on my own. Great job today! I enjoyed teaching you all
fractions!
Materials and Resources:
Board
Marker

Worksheet
Number lines/t chart
Note cards
Pencil
paper

Differentiation Strategies (including plans for individual learners):

Green: The students will be given a t chart which will use another fraction such as or to
compare the same fractions too. The students can also teach this comparing fractions concept to
the class using their own t chart with other resources such as a power point or other technology.
Red: The teacher will reteach these students using fractions that are smaller and using
manipulatives. The teacher will use more number lines that are colored in so the students can see
the fractions instead of having to mentally do it in their minds. These students will have a note
taking guide to fill in as they go where they copy what the teacher is doing, which they can refer
back to later. The students can also use their fraction kits.
Data Analysis:
According to my data form this lesson, I have 5 As, 3 Bs, 5 Cs, 2 Ds, and 3 Fs. There were
five people missing from my lesson today so this is out of 17 instead of 22. My students who
received As received those because they first paid attention class, but they also understand the
previous concepts of fractions they have been working on. These students understand the
relationship between fractions and multiplication/division and they also understand equivalent
fractions. My students who received Bs only missed two equations on the assessment. The
number of problems I put on this assessment made it very easy for students to make lower grades.
I will be more conscious of this when I create my next one. These students who made Bs
generally do very well in the class, this worksheet had some hard material on it, but I wanted to
challenge these students. They got the basic problems correct, they just have a hard time
comparing bigger fractions. My students who got Cs were the students that surprisingly were
clear on how to solve the problems, but they didnt understand the symbols. I remember learning
these symbols, < > and they never really made sense to me. I had some students who thought the
small end went towards the bigger fraction and then some students who wrote them like a V
instead of the proper way. I wrote multiple problems on the board using these symbols and even
drew very largely SMALLER FRACTION < BIGGER FRACTION on the board for everyone
to see, but I still got many questions. These students mainly struggled with the bottom portion of
the assessment because they were no longer comparing them to a half, but comparing them to
each other. My students who received Ds and Fs on this assessment were either special needs or
were students who do not understand basic concepts of fractions. These students dont understand
what of a whole is, thus causing them not to understand any of the other fractions presented. I
only have two days left with my students, but I hope I can continue to work with them on
fractions.
Reflection:
I think this lesson went much better than my first fraction lesson. I was more prepared and
already had multiple ways to explain the concepts ready to share. I realized that using pizzas to
show equal parts is not a very good idea because you cant draw 12 or 10 equal parts in a circle,
they dont look even at all. I will now use boxes or cake to draw my fractions out because I
want my students to understand that fractions are always equal parts. I should have written more
fractions that were equivalent when I was teaching. I had some students that didnt understand
what half of the denominator was so I should have written it and then compared the two. I should
have also gone over the symbols more because that caused a huge problem when we were doing
the assessment. I think I would keep most things the same in this lesson but go over over more
practice problems with them. They enjoyed doing the greater than and less than t chart I gave
them for practice, but they needed even more practice. We should have practiced comparing two
fractions to each other more than just comparing to a half. They could have used their knowledge
of comparing fractions to a to complete that part of the assessment but I dont think they were

thinking that critically. I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching about fractions because I have not
only learned so much more about fractions, but Ive learned that there is no reason to be afraid of
teaching math.

Samford University
Design for Learning

Name______________________

Date___________________

Which is Greater?
Decide which fraction is greater by writing the correct symbol
in the blank <, >. Remember the symbols open to the bigger
number. ex. 3>1

1/2 ____ 3/4

1/2 ____ 2/6

4/5 ____ 1/2

9/10 ____ 1/2

1/2 ____ 6/8

1/2 ____ 7/12

Find the greater fraction using these symbols: <,>. Remember

the symbols opens to the bigger number ex. 3>1

1/4 ____ 3/4

1/8 ____ 3/4

7/10 ____ 8/11

6/7 ____ 2/3

2/5 _____ 7/8

2/8 ____ 1/4

Comparing with a Challenge

15/27 ____ 13/29

12/13 ____ 12/16