Support Materials --

Math for All-Plus

We've Got Your Number!

During this math program you will help your children:

Discover the connection between abstract fractions and cooking recipes
Investigate how fractions are involved in creating and assembling a tangram figure
Use various coins to show fractional parts of $1.00

Activity #1

Bird Seed Portions!
Materials:

1 cup, measuring cup or set of nested measuring cups
4-5 cups of bird seed or rice
10 post-it notes or paper
5 baggies that seal (or use rubber bands)
Pen or Pencil
Paper and pencil

Start this activity by writing the fractions 1/2, 3/4, 2/3, 5/4 and 1/4 on five separate post-its. Put the post-its in order, left to right on the table, placing the fraction you think is the smallest on the left and increasing in order with the largest fraction on the far right.
Now, measure 1/2 cup of bird seed and put in a baggie. Write 1/2 on a piece of paper and put in the bag so you can read it, sealing the bag tightly so the bird seed won't spill out. Do the same with each of the other measurements, then line up the five bags in order with the smallest amount on the left to the largest amount on the right. Compare this to how you lined up the estimates written on the post-it notes. How did you do? Which is larger, 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup? Which is smaller, 5/4 cup or 2/3 cup?
Additional Activities:
It's fun for your child to learn fractions by doubling - or tripling - the ingredients for a favorite cookie recipe. For instance, if the recipe uses 3/4 cup flour, how much will the doubled recipe use? If flour is too messy, measure 3/4 cup water into a bowl and then add another 3/4 cup water. Pour the water back into a measuring cup to see how much is required.

Activity #2

Fractional Parts the "Tan" Way!
Materials:

2 sheets of 81/2" X 11" colored paper
Each cut into an 81/2 square
Scissors
Pen or pencil

In this activity you will construct a 7-piece "tangram" from one of the 81/2" paper squares, and figure out what fractional part each shape is of the total square. Do the following steps-

Fold the square by bringing corner A to corner B, cut along fold line. You will work with these two triangular shaped pieces.
Put the long side of triangle #1 toward you, fold lower right hand corner A over to lower left hand corner B; cut along fold. Set aside these 2 large congruent (same size) triangles.
Take triangle #2 and fold corner A to point B, cut along fold. This makes 1 medium triangle and 1 trapezoid.
Using the trapezoid, fold corner A to corner B, cut along fold.
Using one of the new pieces, fold corner A to corner B and cut. This gives you 1 small triangle and 1 parallelogram.
On the other piece, fold corner A to corner B and cut along fold. This gives you 1 small triangle and 1 small square.

You now have 7 pieces in various sizes and shapes.

Look carefully at the pieces; using the uncut 81/2" paper square, what fractional part of the square do each of the large traingles represent? Write your answer on each part.
Knowing what fractional part each piece is, how many of these triangles will it take to fill up the large square?
Do these same steps with each of the other pieces.

Additional Activities:
Put the 7 pieces back together to form the original large square using the uncut square as a guide. Help your child make several tangram sets and arrange the pieces to make a variety of figures-a cat, giraffe, polar bear, rocket ship, etc.

Activity #3

Fractions in Your Pocket!
Materials:

100 pennies
One each- nickel, dime, quarter, halfdollar and one dollar bill
Paper
Pen or pencil

In this activity you will explore the many ways you can evenly divide up a dollar, discovering what fractional part of a dollar each coin is- penny, nickel, dime, quarter and half-dollar. You will write the answers in three forms- fraction, percent and decimal.
A penny is one 100th of a dollar so it can be written in the fractional form as 1/100, in the percent form as 1% and in the decimal form as .01. Remember percent means a part of 100. Let's discover the fractions that are represented by the coins we use every day. Use the chart to show your answers. How many pennies are there in a nickel? How many groups of "five" are there in 100 pennies? Each group of five is what part of 100? Write the fractional part a nickel represents of $1.00. Use the same process to show 10 pennies (a dime), 25 pennies (a quarter), 50 pennies (a halfdollar) and 100 pennies ($1).

Fraction Percent Decimal
Penny 1/100 1% .01
Nickel . . .
Dime . . .
Quarter . . .
Half Dollar . . .
One Dollar . . .

	Fraction	Percent	Decimal
Penny	1/100	1%	.01
Nickel	.	.	.
Dime	.	.	.
Quarter	.	.	.
Half Dollar	.	.	.
One Dollar	.	.	.