A Fractions Escape Room for Adding Unlike Fractions

You and your classmates have embarked on an exciting time travel adventure using a mysterious time machine discovered in your school’s basement. However, something goes wrong, and you find yourselves stuck in an unfamiliar time. 

To return home, you must solve a series of fraction puzzles. Each puzzle will reveal a clue that helps you narrow down the possible years you are stuck in. There are five potential years, and each task will help you eliminate one of them. 

This is the situation in which students find themselves in “The Lost Time Traveler,” an escape room adventure that requires them to answer fractions questions involving unlike denominators. To discover which time period they have traveled to by accident, students must work through four adding unlike fractions worksheets, each based on a particular strategy. The strategies covered in this fractions escape room include:

• Number lines
• Pictorial models
• Standard algorithm

Will your students make it back to the present day, or will they find themselves lost in a strange time period forever? Delight in a class of engaged and motivated students as they work to uncover the clues and solve the mystery!

An All-In-One Fractions Escape Room Pack

The resource download (quick-print PDF or digital/editable Google Slides file) contains everything you need to easily implement this adding unlike fractions escape room in your classroom. The resource contains:

• Escape Room Scenario –This page sets the scene for the students, explaining the scenario and the purpose of the task in detail.
• List of Possible Time Periods – This table names the five possible time periods that the students are stuck in: Medieval Times, The Renaissance, The Victorian Era, The Roaring Twenties and The Space Age.
• Student Challenges – Students will unlock clues by completing four adding unlike fractions worksheets. Each clue will allow them to eliminate a time period.
• Answers – For the teacher’s eyes only! Do not distribute these pages to your students.

Students could work on this escape room independently, or you could add an element of friendly competition by having the students work together in teams. Add an extra element of excitement by placing a time limit on the task – once the time runs out, it’s too late to return to the present!

Download to Add Unlike Fractions

Use the Download button to access your preferred file format.

For sustainability purposes, please consider printing this booklet double-sided. Be sure to remove the answer pages before distributing the resource to your students!

This resource was created by Kaylyn Chupp, a teacher in Florida and a Teach Starter collaborator.

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