Join us for conversations that inspire, recognize, and encourage innovation and best practices in the education profession.
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more.
Brick Playbook: Parent Edition
Bricks In Fraction
Explore equivalent fractions with bricks.
Objective:
Child will be able to visually represent equivalent fractions by overlapping different sizes of bricks.
Essential Question(s):
How do fractions with different denominators relate to each other?
Special Materials:
Paper and pencil for labeling
Bricks Required:
16×16 plates; 1×2, 2×2, 2×4, 2×8, 1×3, 1×4, 1×6 bricks
Project Structure
Engage/Explore
- Have child lay out enough bricks to cover two rows of a 16×16 plate, using each type of brick (e.g., two 2×8 bricks and sixteen 1×2 bricks).
- Ask child to place their plates on a sheet of paper and label each row: 1 whole, 2/2, 4/4, etc.
- Ask child to find various equivalent fractions, such as 1/2 and 2/4.
Explain
- Ask child to solve a few addition and subtraction problems with common denominators.
- Ask child to use their boards to show the pieces for their fractions.
- Have child develop an explanation and reasoning for the correct addition/subtraction of the problems, using the bricks as evidence.
