Number lines are strategies too!

I was planning with a 4th grade team the other day and after we discussed what the TEKS meant and what strategies we needewd to use to teach it, we dug into the idea of resources needed.

So the TEK was 4.3CD which states "determine if two given fractions are equivalent using a variety of methods" and "comparing two fractions with different numerators and different denominators and represent the comparison using symbols."

After we discussed using various fraction tiles, towers and circles for students to manipulate to find equivilencies for different fractions such as 1/2, 3/4, and 2/3 to name a few; a teacher brought up the fact that the students needed to also use number lines to identify equivalent fractions (based on the released questions and other resources utilized to unpack the standard).

She was absolutely correct! Students are bringing (or should be) in prior knowledge from Third grade with representing fractions on a number line via 3.3F. Benchmark fractions (0, 1/2 and 1) are a great place to start and utilize as a reference point. Conceptual understanding should include students knowledge of 0 as zero out of the total pieces and 1 whole as the entire number or set of pieces in the fraction (ie: 5/5).

Background knowledge (and pre-teaching or re-teaching) should also include building a number line that emphasizes counting the spaces between notches on a number line. Anyways, back to the thought-provoking idea a teacher came up with. She decided after teaching the initial concepts in her mini-lessons, she would create a station that allowed students to build number lines to compare fractions and/or find equivalent fractions.

So I reached into my stash of number lines and various fraction cards and we created some procedures to implement this activity as a station.

1. Have two students each pull a card.
2. Have both students predict (using benchmark reasoning) which fraction is larger (or smaller).
3. Have both students create/draw a number line (on pre-laminated sentence strips).
4. Use the number line to justify which fraction is largest by describing which benchmark fraction it's closest to.

Possible sentence stems:
"My fraction is __________, because its closer to _______."
"My fraction is closer to _______________, so it is ______________."

Enjoy the opportunity to engage in dynamic coversations with your colleagues (fellow teachers), as many great, simple station ideas can emerge from a clear understanding of the standards.