Valentine Fraction Fun Event


On the eve of Valentine's Day, we had our Fraction Fun event. Students created artwork inspired by  Ed Emberley's  Picture Pies, decorated Valentine Bags, and played games. You guessed right! All these activities were based on fractions, our current unit of study in math.

Ed Emberley Picture Pies

Students used fractional parts of circles ( whole, 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8) to create some beautiful designs. After cutting out the parts, they glued the pieces together to make clowns, dogs, flowers, and walruses to name a few. Amritha and Swati who were the parent volunteers at this station were incredibly patient with the children while the youngsters chose their designs and colors.

Valentine Bag Decoration and Estimation

In preparation of Valentine Exchange, students decorated bags with stickers, doilies, colored pencil, and pompoms. Allison and Stacey led this station and they had the unenviable task of ensuring that supplies lasted for all the students! After the children decorated the bags, they had to estimate the fraction of decorations. They were encouraged to use benchmark fractions such as 1/2, 2/3, and 3/4. Once the fractions were estimated, students recorded their guesses on bag labels. This station challenged students to apply their knowledge of fractions to estimation skills.

Games

This station was wonderfully led by Liz who has a great sense of humor! Students played dice games and worked with tangrams to make heart and other shapes. Liz tried to help students through the challenges and the youngsters truly appreciated her inputs. Mr. Dimen, our new assistant principal joined us and he encouraged students to keep trying as they worked on tangrams.

It was indeed a fun-filled afternoon with loads of learning and laughter. Thanks to all the awesome parent volunteers who made it possible.

Exploring Fractions

We began the unit on fractions with a great hands-on activity. Students worked in groups of three to show fractions using different materials such as construction paper, yarn, and play dough. Each group was assigned a specific fraction to work with and present its work to rest of the class. Children explored fractions such as halves, fourths, sixths, and tenths.

After all the groups were done with their assigned fractions, we conducted a "museum walk" so that they could examine what others had done. It was such a wonderful sight to see students truly appreciate each other's work and take notes on how fractions could be made with diverse materials. 

This week ( 2/9) we will use fractions to make art!