Fractions how to teach these to my child when I can’t even do them myself? Is this a question that pops into your head when you open your child’s homework folder and see a page of fractions questions staring right back at you? These are a tricky subject in maths and so many of my students struggle with these.
The key is to build a solid foundation for fractions to allow your child to become confident when working with them. I have been a teacher and tutor for seven years and I will hold my hands up and admit, I did not know how to do fractions properly myself until I started tutoring. It’s true what they say, ‘If you don’t use it, you lose it.’ Unless you have a job that involves mathematics, then chances are you don’t use them on a daily basis. Let’s conquer fractions together and help you become confident at homework time.
What are fractions?
Fractions…you probably haven’t even used them since you left school. Well apart from when you’re slicing birthday cake into even pieces or pizza into slices at dinner time. Before you can help your child with their fractions worksheets homework, you need to understand them a bit better yourself. That’s where I come in as your knight in shining armour! So what is the point of fractions? Well, they are there to help us divide an object, shape or number into equal parts.
Fractions themselves come in two parts. The denominator is the bottom number below the line. The denominator divides something into how many parts it will be. For example, if we have a fraction with a bottom number of 4, this indicates that we are going to split an object, shape, or number into four equal parts.
Next, we have the top number above the line, the numerator. This tells us how many parts we have out of the whole. A ‘whole’ refers to a whole number, a whole object or a whole shape. For example, at a birthday party, each person gets ¼ of the cake. The bottom number indicates that we cut the cake into four slices. The top number, 1, tells us that each person gets one slice of cake.
What Fractions for Math Topics does your Child Learn in School?
Take a look at the Northern Ireland Curriculum for Key Stage 2 Math. You will see this point about fractions, ‘Pupils should be enabled to understand and use vulgar fractions, decimal fractions and percentages and explore the relationships between them.’ Insert cricket noise here… ‘Explore the relationships between vulgar fractions, decimal fractions and percentages’…What does that even mean and what topics does it include? Let me break it down a bit for you and share with you the topics that I teach my students when it comes to fractions.
Fractions of Shapes
Before your child can begin to understand all the other fraction topics, they need to have a solid foundation of what they look like. If your child has a visual representation of fractions in their mind, it can help make the topic a little less confusing and not so daunting for them. When dividing shapes into fractions you can use shapes such as circles, rectangles, and squares or you can use food to make it a bit more fun. Check out my blog post on Fractions of Pizza to find out how to teach this topic using pizza.
Colour the Shape
There are two ways your child will be asked to find fractions of shapes. The first way is to colour a particular fraction using a shape that is already divided. For example, the teacher gives your child a circle already divided into four equal parts. They are asked to colour 2/4 of the circle. The denominator/bottom number of the fraction, which is 4, tells us how many parts the shape is divided into. The numerator/the top number of the fraction, which is 2, tells us how many parts of the circle we need to colour. Your child will colour two parts of the circle.
Divide and Colour the Shape
The second way your child may be asked to find a fraction of a shape is to have them read the fraction, divide it into equal parts and then colour the correct amount of the shape. For example, your child is given a blank square. They are asked to colour 4/6 of the square. The first thing they need to do is divide the square into six equal parts. Remember the bottom number tells us how many parts the shape needs to be divided into. Next, they will look at the top number as this tells them how many sections of the square they need to colour. We can see the numerator is 4, so your child will colour four sections of the square leaving two sections blank.
Fractions of Amounts
After your child has a solid understanding of what fractions of shapes look like, we can move on to finding fractions of amounts. I love using candy when teaching this topic. Using real candy is an excellent way to introduce and reinforce fractions of amounts. Candy is a great visual tool and completing a practical activity like this before using a fractions of amounts worksheet, will allow your child to have a visual representation of them in their mind. Also, you will get to enjoy some yummy treats together afterwards! You don’t have to use candy, you can use leaves, shells, toys, cupcakes, pizza, fruit, and vegetables. Whatever you like!
To find fractions of amounts there are three steps we need to take. For this example, I will use jellybeans.
Step 1, ask your child to count how many jellybeans there are altogether. There are 25 jellybeans. Next, ask your child to give you two-fifths of the jellybeans.
Step 2, to find two-fifths of 25 jellybeans, we need to divide the total amount by the bottom number of the fraction. Ask your child how many times does 5 divide into 25. It is divided into 5 times.
In step 3, we need to take the answer from the division sum (5) and multiply it by the top number of the fraction (2). Ask your child what is 5 multiplied by 2. The answer is 10 and your child will give you 10 jellybeans.
Your child has just found two-fifths of 25 and you can munch away on your 10 jellybeans!
Fractions of Whole Numbers
Once your child has mastered finding fractions of amounts, they won’t find fractions of whole numbers as tricky anymore! When we are finding fractions of numbers we are completing the same steps as finding fractions of amounts except they can skip step 1 as they don’t have to count any objects. For example, if your child is asked to find ⅖ of 55 they will divide 55 by the bottom number of the fraction which is 5. Ask your child how many times 5 go into 55 (11). Next, ask your child to multiply this answer by the top number of the fraction. Next, ask your child what is 11 multiplied by 2 (22).
Your child has just found two-fifths of 55 which is 22!
Fractions Word Problems
Fractions word problems will definitely make an appearance in your child’s homework at some point. My advice with these is to ask your child to take it slowly and step-by-step. Fraction word problems use the same steps as finding fractions of numbers and amounts. There’s just a ‘story’ around the fraction and the amount. Let’s complete an example together.
Sasha has 48 cupcakes to sell at the bake sale. She sells ¾ of the cupcakes and gives ¼ of the cupcakes to her friends as a treat. How many cupcakes does Sasha sell at the bake sale?
Above is an example of a fraction word problem. If we strip away all of the text, the ‘story’ we can see that we are finding ¾ of 48. Just like finding fractions of numbers, we are completing the same steps – dividing by the bottom number of the fraction and multiplying that answer by the top number of the fraction.
Simplifying
Next on my list is simplifying. It’s beneficial for your child to have a sound knowledge of the times tables as they play a big part in simplifying fractions. Simplifying a fraction means we are making it smaller or simpler to work with. To simplify a fraction, your child must find a number that divides into both the top number and bottom number of the fraction.
Some questions will ask your child to simplify fractions such as, ‘Simplify 18/36.’ Ask your child what number divides into 18 and 36. We can use the number 9 as it goes into both numbers. Nine goes into 18, two times and nine goes into 36 four times. This means 18/36 simplified is 2/4.
Other questions that fractions to simplify worksheet will ask them to give their answer in the simplest form. If you see this term popping up in your child’s homework, this basically means they need to keep simplifying the fraction until it cannot go any lower. With the example above, we have simplified 18/36 to 2/4. However, this is not the simplest form, we can keep going lower with this fraction. What number goes into 2 and 4? The number 2 goes into both numbers. Two goes into 2 one time and two goes into 4 two times. This means 18/36 in its simplest form is ½.
Equivalent Fractions
This topic confuses a lot of my students, and it could take up a whole blog post of its own. Equivalent fractions are fractions that are the same even though they have different top numbers and bottom numbers. You can see from the image below that when ½, 2/4 and 3/6 are shaded they look exactly the same! This is what equivalent fractions are.
Fraction Wall
A great way to explore equivalent fractions is to create a fraction wall with your child. This makes it easy to see which fractions are equivalent. I have linked a free fraction wall here so you can see what it looks like.
The teacher may ask your child to put a range of different fractions in order from smallest to largest or vice versa. This is just finding equivalent fractions for each of them and putting them in order. If the question has five different fractions, you need to find a number that each of the denominators goes into. For example, if someone asks your child to order 3 ⁄ 4, 2/8, 9/16, 11/32 and 16/48 from smallest to largest, we need to find a number that 4, 8, 16, 32 and 48 divided into. Each of these numbers goes into 48, so we can change all of the bottom numbers to 48.
To convert the top number, we need to find out how many times the original bottom number goes into 48. For example, how many times does 4 go into 48? The answer is 12. To find the new top number of the fraction we need to multiply the original top number by 12. For example, what is 3 multiplied by 12? The answer is 36. Therefore, ¾ now becomes 36/48. Continue to do this for each of them and then it is easier to put them in order. Remind your child that when they are writing their answer into their homework book or worksheet, they need to write them as their original fraction. They won’t write 36/48, they will write ¾.
Improper and Mixed Number Fractions
The major differences between improper and mixed number fractions are that improper fractions have a larger number on top and mixed number fractions include a whole number as well as a fraction.
Improper
Let’s take a look at improper fractions first. Improper fractions can sometimes be called ‘top-heavy fractions’ and that is exactly what they are. With improper fractions, the top number is larger than the bottom number of the fraction. The teacher may ask your child to convert an improper fraction to a mixed number fraction. To do this, your child needs to divide the bottom number into the top number to find the whole number and any remainder stays in fraction form. For example, 26/10 is the improper fraction. To convert it into a mixed number fraction we will divide 10 into 26. 10 goes into 26 two times with a remainder of 6. Therefore, 26/10 converts to 2 and 6/10.
Mixed Number
Mixed number fractions have a whole number and any reminders are in the fraction format. We call them mixed number fractions because they are a mixture of whole numbers and fractions. The teacher may ask your child to convert a mixed number fraction into an improper fraction. To do this they will be completing the opposite steps to the example above. For example, if we have 3 and 2/7, we will multiply 3 by 7 (21), add the top number of the fraction and add the 2 equals 23/7.
Converting Fractions to Decimals and Percentages
Last on my list is converting fractions to decimals and percentages. For your child to fully grasp fractions before going into Year 8, they need to be able to see the relationships between fractions, decimals and percentages. For some of the more popular ones, your child may just learn them in their decimal and percentage formats such as ¼ = 0.25 = 25%. With other fractions, they will need to be able to convert them without a calculator.
Converting Fractions to Decimals
Converting fractions with decimals involves only one step we need to take which is to divide the top number of the fraction by the bottom number of the fraction. For example, if someone asks your child to convert 1/10 into a decimal they will divide 1 by 10 which gives us 0.1. Let’s try another one. Ask your child to convert 4/5 into a decimal by dividing 4 by 5 which gives us 0.8. Voilà you have just converted fractions into decimals!
Converting Fractions to Percentages
To convert fractions of percentage there are two steps this time. Step 1, is the same as converting a fraction to a decimal, we divide the top number of the fraction by the bottom number of the fraction. The extra step to convert a fraction to a percentage is to multiply your answer by 100. For example, if someone asks your child to convert 3/10 into a percentage, they will divide 3 by 10, which equals 0.3, and then multiply 0.3 by 100, resulting in 30%. Let’s take a look at another example. Ask your child to convert ⅗ into a percentage. First, they will divide 3 by 5 which gives them 0.6 and then multiply 0.6 by 100 which gives us 60%.
How to help your child with their fraction homework
So how can you help your child with their fractions homework? To help your child if they are getting confused with fractions, you should identify where they are getting stuck. Are they getting stuck with simplifying because they find times tables tricky or do they really not know what they are? It is important for you to know where they are struggling so you help them in the correct area. For example, if times tables are the issue, encourage your child to practise their times tables on a daily basis. However, if they find the whole concept of fractions tricky, then I recommend going right back to basics to really build those foundations. Before completing a fraction-based homework or worksheet with your child, you can complete a practical activity or fractions games to further develop and enhance their learning.
More Information on Fractions
Fractions For Kids: A Comprehensive Guide For Primary School Teachers and Parents
How to Teach Fractions Like a Pro
Teachers’ Tricks for Fractions
Wow, that was a long blog post! I hope I have made this topic a bit clearer for you and can help make homework time a bit easier. If you would like to complete some fun fraction activities with your child then check out my Fractions of Pizza blog post where I share some tasty activities which can help develop your child’s knowledge of this tricky topic. Let’s transform your ‘Fractions How To’ mindset to a ‘Fraction Heck Yes!’ You’ve got this parents!
