Newsletter 8: Fractions

What fraction of the square above has been shaded in? 

If it is not immediately obvious, maybe you can estimate a fraction that would be too low? Too high? The image is created by simply slicing the large square with straight lines, and invites us to think about how the various sections gain their value.
 
This image comes from the website called Fraction Talks, or www.fractiontalks.com, where many other similar images can be found with a variety of designs. The site is curated by Nat Banting, and the goal is to encourage students to interrogate, communicate, and deepen their understanding of fractions.
 
Tips to use Fraction Talks at home

• Allow your children to take the first steps—let them reason.
• If your children want to create new possibilities, let them. Altering the diagram is a sense-making activity.
• Highlight familiar sections when they come up (like halves, thirds, quarters, eighths, etc.)
• Allow them to justify with written and spoken language as well as pictures. Notation comes from these—don’t rush it.
• A question like, “How many other ways can you shade…” opens up lots of space for thinking.

Hopefully this week's Table Talk Math has your dinner table sharing ways in which math can serve a conversation.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us on Twitter (@TableTalkMath) or comment below. Also, I would love to hear what you and the family came up with. Add a comment, tweet, or email me the family's strategies and choices; I'll post some of my favorites.

Thank you for taking the time to improve math fluency for children, one table talk conversation at a time. For previous newsletters, check out the archive each week.

The entirety of this week's content was produced by Nat. Reach out to him on Twitter with your ideas at @NatBanting.