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Fraction Lessons

Many children have trouble with fraction lessons. Teachers can tell a child that a fraction is a number that is the portion or part of a whole; however, a child is not going to grasp this concept until they can visualize how fractions work. The key to understanding fractions involves understanding how each part fits into the bigger whole (pun intended).

Time4Learning helps children develop a fraction foundation by showing children how to visualize fractions by using real world examples in an interactive, online learning environment. Learn more about Time4Learning's fraction lessons and our interactive math curriculum.

How do you teach a child to understand fractions?

The simple answer of how to help children understand fractions is to build a solid math foundation and to practice a lot of fraction word problems. You need to teach fraction lessons in the appropriate sequence, going back and reviewing math basics if your child is having difficulty with a key area. Remember, a solid math foundation is built on EEP fundamental understandings. Fraction lessons are important but are not as important as the real foundation.

Time4Learning teaches fraction lessons by helping children visualize fractions in the real world. The first fraction lessons start with a "pizza puzzler". The fraction word problem gives children a pizza pie and then tells them that it needs to be cut up. While working with the interactive fraction lesson, children will see the pizza being cut up into equal size pieces. They visualize how a whole gets split into parts of the whole as the pizza is divided up into halves and quarters. This visualization of the pizza is a conceptual tool that should be constantly reinforced and reused as the fraction lessons get trickier.

Time4Learning introduces the concept of a denominator by showing the children the pizza cut into different numbers of equal-size slices: the denominator. Children will work this concept of dividing up a whole into fractions of a whole in a number of different methods. Some categories of instructional method: manipulatives, sets, graphical, money, geometrically, and representations.

• Manipulatives - Parents should have children break cookies into halves and then have them write down the fraction: ½. In Time4Learning, there are a great number of animated fraction lessons where visual learning skills help children "see" a whole split into fractions.
• Sets - This same concept of splitting up a whole should also be applied to sets. If there are eight apples, let's split the set of eight apples into two equally size subsets, into two halves of the original set.
• Graphical - Given a table of data, the child should be able to understand and work with half. For instance, a fraction problem might show that a farmer owns 10 sheep and 4 goats: the child should learn that half of the animals mean 5 sheep and 2 goats.
• Money - A very familiar concept such as money is particularly useful in making math concepts meaningful and drawing on prior knowledge to anchor conceptual fraction lessons with real world applications. "Split a 100 into fourths" can be a difficult question. But ask the child to split a dollar evenly between four children and sure enough, they often can answer that $.25 each or a quarter each. Key to teaching fraction lessons is helping them put their prior knowledge into a conceptual framework.

In addition, Time4Learning provides supplementary, printable fraction worksheets. Some families print and use every fraction worksheet. In other families, the parents are only taking advantage of the interactive fraction lessons, not the printable fraction worksheets. The choice is yours.

Use Time4Learning's fraction lessons to supplement your child's school work or enhance your homeschool curriculum. Help them develop a solid math foundation. Learn more about Time4Learning's interactive math programs.