UNDERSTANDING FRACTIONS

“I’M NOT GOOD AT MATH!”

• How many of you feel this way?
• Why do we need to know this?
• Let’s make it simple to understand!
 WHAT IS A FRACTION?
• A fraction is just another way of saying a
“piece” of a “whole” item.
 PIZZA
• Each slice of pizza is a fraction of the whole
pizza pie.
 PIZZA
• Since the whole pie has 8 slices, each
individual slice is 1 of 8 or 1/8.
• When you read a fraction
simply remove the “/”
symbol and replace it
with the word “of.”
 SAY IT OUT LOUD
• ¼
• 1/8
• ½
• ¾
• 7/8
 PIZZA
• If I eat 3 slices of pizza, what fraction
represents how much of the pie I ate?
• Think of answering it as
she ate ___ of ___ pieces
ALL PIZZAS ARE NOT SLICED THE SAME
• Sometimes when you get a pizza, it has 8
pieces, sometimes it has 4…Just remember
that …the first number, is the number of
pieces of the total pie that are eaten, the
bottom number is the TOTAL number of slices
in the pie.
• ¼ means 1 piece of pizza is eaten, when there
are 4 slices in total.
EXPRESS IT AS A FRACTION IF I EAT
ONE PIECE OF EVERY PIE BELOW
EXPRESS IT AS A FRACTION IF I EAT
TWO PIECES OF EVERY PIE BELOW
IF I EAT ½ of THE FIRST PIZZA, HOW
MANY CAN I EAT OF THE SECOND
PIZZA, IN ORDER TO EAT THE SAME
AMOUNT?
THAT MEANS ½ = 2/4
 THIS SEEMS TO EASY!
• That’s because it is easier…..you are good at
math!
 JUST REMEMEBER
• 2/8 = ¼ (if I eat 2 slices of a pizza that has 8)
• 4/8 = ½ (if I eat 4 slices of a pizza that has 8)
• 6/8 = ¾ (if I eat 6 slices of a pizza that has 8)
• 8/8 = 1 (if I eat 8 slices of a pizza that has 8)

(You may want to write this down!)

Oops, I hate the whole thing!
 LET’S LOOK AT YOUR RULER!
• Each inch is marked by a WHOLE number!

• Also notice that unlike a traditional ruler, you

can measure along the top or down the side!
 LET’S LOOK AT YOUR RULER!
• Find 1 inch along the top and 1 inch along the
side!
 NOW LET’S LOOK AT AN INCH IN
DETAIL!
• How many pieces (blocks, in this case) make
up a whole inch?

8
 NOW LET’S LOOK AT AN INCH IN
DETAIL!
• If there are 8 blocks in an inch…What is 1/8th
of an inch ( in blocks?)

1
 NOW LET’S LOOK AT AN INCH IN
DETAIL!
• If there are 8 blocks in an inch…What is 1/4 of an
inch ( in blocks?) Remember how to convert ¼
into ?/8

2
 WRITE THIS DOWN!
• 1/8 = 1 blocks
• 2/8 = ¼ = 2 blocks
• 3/8 = 3 blocks
• 4/8 = ½ = 4 blocks
• 5/8 = 5 blocks
• 6/8 = ¾ = 6 blocks
• 7/8 = 7 blocks
• 8/8 = 1” = 8 blocks
 LET’S TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
• On the sheet provided, mark and write down
the following:
1/8”, ¼”, 3/8”, ½”, 5/8”, ¾”, 7/8”, 1”, 1 ¼”, 1 ½”