My Education Junction

 

 

One fun way to teach your child about fractions is to have a Hershey Bar /Pizza Party. Pizza is a Friday night tradition at our house, so I used the opportunity to give my son a firm understanding of fractions.

Note** Consider who you order your pizza from, as some pizzerias cut their pizza into squares with triangle corners. A pizza cut in such a manner is probably a bit too confusing. More often than not, our pizzas are cut into 8 fairly equal slices.

When we go to serve the pizza we first count all the available slices. As we put each slice on the plate we consider the fraction amount represented by the remaining pizza.

“One slice for your sister, we now have 7/8 of our pizza left. One slice for you, we now have 6/8 of our pizza left.”You might then ask, “How much pizza has been served so far?”

Once we have an understanding of our pizza fractions-and were done eating of course, we have our dessert.

 A Hershey Bar is divided into 12 smaller pieces which can be broken apart in a variety of manners. A normal size Hershey bar is divided into 4 columns with 3 rectangular pieces in each column. Depending on how comfortable your child is, you may choose to have them divide the bar in fourths or ultimately 12 individual pieces.

I start by having my son divide the bar into half. We then break our halves down into quarters until we get to the point that we have divided all of the 12 pieces. Once you are finished, you can let your child to eat fractional portions of the bar. Have them show you what equals ¼ of the bar or ½ of the bar, and then allow them to eat those pieces.

This is by far the tastiest ways I know to teach fractions.

Printable Candy Bar Fractions Worksheet

 

Primary Resources Pizza Place Challenge 

Filed under: Math on November 8th, 2006