LESSON 4 Folding Fractions

Lee Yah demonstrated folding fourths for her class.

“First, I folded my strip into two equal pieces. Next, I kept it folded and then I folded it in half again. When I unfold the strip, it is divided into 4 equal pieces. Since the 4 parts are all the same size, each piece is of the strip.”

• 

She showed three of the pieces to show of the strip.

• 

In a fraction, the bottom number is the denominator. This number tells us how many equal pieces the whole is divided into. The top number, the numerator, tells us how many of the pieces we are interested in.

• 

1. In the fraction , what information does the denominator give us?
2. What information does the numerator give us in the fraction ?
3. Richard folded his strip and marked the fourths. Does his strip show fourths? How do you know?

4. Look at your fraction strips. What happens to the size of the fractional parts as the denominator gets bigger?