My 13 year old is having lots of trouble with fractions. If it isn't 1/2 or 1/4, she just can't understand it.
Any ideas? Any suggestions? Any helpful sites or programs or exercises? She is quite frustrated!
middle school fraction difficulties
Moderators: Bob Hazen, Theodore, elliemaejune
Hope, we use the Math U See program for my son and it's working very well. It's expensive (I think Epsilon would run about $100 for all the parts new, though the teacher's manual/dvd and the fraction overlays can be bought cheaply on swap sites), but it is well worth it for the amount of understanding a child gets from it.
There's also online places like:
http://www.rainforestmaths.com/
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/skills_7th_math.htm
http://www.mathcats.com/grownupcats/ide ... tions.html
Hope that helps!
There's also online places like:
http://www.rainforestmaths.com/
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/skills_7th_math.htm
http://www.mathcats.com/grownupcats/ide ... tions.html
Hope that helps!
"The greatest sign of success for a teacher... is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist."
- M. Montessori
Proud non-member of the HSLDA
- M. Montessori
Proud non-member of the HSLDA
Cut fruit with her and show her how fraction work. Show her how eighths work and how 4/8 is the same as one half.
Then show her how to calculate fractions of numbers. eg 3/8 of 48 is just 3x48 then divided by 8. Give her lots of examples until she sees the pattern for herself.
However if she does have a good grasp of number skills then you need to go back and revise before she tackles this. Without good nunber skills she'll always find it difficult.
Hope this helps.
Then show her how to calculate fractions of numbers. eg 3/8 of 48 is just 3x48 then divided by 8. Give her lots of examples until she sees the pattern for herself.
However if she does have a good grasp of number skills then you need to go back and revise before she tackles this. Without good nunber skills she'll always find it difficult.
Hope this helps.
- elliemaejune
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Re: middle school fraction difficulties
Hope wrote:My 13 year old is having lots of trouble with fractions. If it isn't 1/2 or 1/4, she just can't understand it.
Any ideas? Any suggestions? Any helpful sites or programs or exercises? She is quite frustrated!
I found a very helpful set of fraction manipulatives at a local teacher supply store. It was similar to this set from ETA/Cuisenaire.
Maybe you can find something like this in your community. If not, you could order it from ETA/Cuisenaire.
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I got a set of Rainbow fraction tiles put out by Learning Resources and it really helped. Kids can easily see the relationship between the denominator and the size of the fraction as they physically manipulate the pieces. I recommend it.
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Shodor has many very cool and userful interactive lessons for fractions. This is just one of them
http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/act ... ionFinder/
http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/act ... ionFinder/
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