Fraction Bingo
April 8, 2022
For the grade 1 class I was placed in, I was instructed to teach fractions. During week 1, we learned about wholes, halves, fourths, and unequal fractions. We did activities with each fraction set where they had to fold, cut, and paste their fraction food, we did an activity where they had to sort fractions by type (equal parts), and we also started learning how to solve fair share problems. On the fourth day when I started introducing fair-share problems, students were not confident. After some reflection and discussion with my AT, we decided they needed more practice with fraction name and type (½, ¼, 2/4, ¾, 4/4, unequal).
I had students cut out different fractions and cut and paste them onto a bingo sheet (this way every student has their unique fraction card). We went through the review of the fraction name and type. Then, reviewed the rules of bingo and got started. I would reach into a bag and call out a fraction name, and they had to find the picture that corresponded. When students got the bingo, they had to read out what fractions they had
The students enjoyed having control over their bingo boards, but it took some time to cut and paste. Next time, I would give students a bingo card or have them create their bingo cards the day before, and use that as an extra review before going into the game. If I do this activity again I would add fractions in numbers (¾) and held up a picture of a fraction so that they could practice both ways identifying the fractions both ways.
The activity went over very well. It gave students confidence in what we were learning, and they got to play a fun game. This was exactly what the students needed before going into fair share problems and drawing. During this lesson, students were using their knowledge of fractions to help them without even realizing it. They also were getting introduced to equivalent fractions, if I would call 2/4, some students would look at the ½ and compare and say that they were the same. Bingo is a fun way to assess students’ knowledge of a lot of subjects. It disguises learning and testing through fun. I would recommend this activity to all teachers introducing a subject like fractions, where there is a lot of new information being thrown at students at a time.
S’s Fraction Chart Paper
This was a consolidation activity I did for the fraction unit in grade 4. I had students choose a fraction that they loved and have them represent the fraction in as many ways as they could. They could choose to represent it in fraction of a whole, a set, or a number line. I challenged them to come up with at least 4 ways. At the end of the timed allotted, we went around the classroom and shared our favourite fractions and our favourite way to represent them. I asked students questions like which representation was easy to see the fraction versus hard to see what the fraction represented, and other thought-provoking open-ended questions. At the end of this lesson, S ran up to me and asked if I could take a picture of her with her chart paper. I said of course, and her huge smile made my day. She wanted to take it home and put it in her room. I knew that my effort to keep a difficult topic like fractions interesting worked for my students as they wanted to display their work in their homes! They were proud of what they had accomplished and that is the joy of being a teacher.