Understanding Fractions

Did you know that students start to begin their understanding of fractions as early as 1st grade? You may be wondering, how is that possible? Students in this grade level aren’t working with fractions in a traditional sense but are building the foundation of understanding how shapes can be divided into equal and unequal parts and that these parts can be identified with words (halves, fourths, eighths, etc.). As students move into 2nd and 3rd grade, they work on understanding how visual models and numerically written fractions work hand-in-hand before solely working with “just the numbers.”  

If you are just starting out with your fractions unit (or perhaps your students are in need of a refresher), Teach Starter has you covered! With this 19-slide interactive instructional slide deck, students will be introduced to basic fraction concepts. Students will explore concepts such as:

• What are fractions?
• Equal and unequal parts
• Parts of a fraction
• Understanding halves, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, and eighths
• Naming fractions

When working through this presentation with your students, please note that there are some interactive activities (typing in numbers, drag and drop, etc.). You can choose to complete these activities in edit mode or use a drawing tool on an interactive whiteboard to draw circles, write numbers, etc.

Tips for Differentiation + Scaffolding 

A team of dedicated, experienced educators created this resource to support your math lessons. 

This instructional slide deck can be used to support your whole class lessons or remote learning assignments. 

If you have a mixture of above and below-level learners, check out these suggestions for keeping students on track with the concepts: 

🆘 Support Struggling Students

For students who need extra support, allow them to reference the instructional slides as a resource when working with fractions. Additionally, consider giving students fraction circles or fraction bars to observe the size of the pieces, count the number of pieces to make a whole, etc. 

➕ Challenge Fast Finishers

If there are students who need an additional challenge, encourage them to describe a real-life scenario involving fractions and ask students to draw a picture and write a fraction to illustrate the scenario.

Easily Prepare This Resource for Your Students

Use the Download button to access this resource’s editable Google Slides version. 

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher in Michigan and a Teach Starter Collaborator. 

Don’t stop there! We’ve got more activities and resources that cut down on lesson planning time:  

[resource:143027]   [resource:4929312]   [resource:4930682]