Stacy in NJ Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 My 5th grader is having some trouble understanding fractions, primarily with reducing and finding LCM for add/subtracting with unlike denominators. Any hands on games or manipulatives that help with these concepts??? I've seen the MUS fraction overlays, not what I'm looking for. Thanks, Stacy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 You can try fraction circles (have no idea if that is what the MUS overlays are). I googled fraction circles and found some to print out. We printed out circles divided into halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, eighths, and twelfths I think. I printed two copies of each and we left one whole and cut the other up into pieces of pie. Dd colored each whole pie a different color, so sixths were orange and twelfths were red, etc. Once all of that preliminary work was done, you can use the pieces of pie to see that 4/6 is the same as 2/3. You can illustrate what is going on when add thirds and fourths. We played around with them the first week or so of starting fractions and I think it helped dd visualize it all. Fractions were actually easier for her than some of the other things we've studied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisy Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 We like fraction strips or bars better. http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/math/mathmanipulatives.html Scroll down to fractions and you'll see sets you can buy at RR, interactive fraction bars, and links to printables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 I'll say upfront that I am, as a devoted fan of RightStart, biased . But personally I like fraction "bars" much better than fraction "circles". I just think it is much easier to see and understand the differences in size. You could make this manipulative easily enough at home with cardstock, but they do sell magnetic and wooden ones if you prefer. They also have a fractions game pack with cards and instructions. I can't offer you a review on that, but thought I'd mention it. http://activitiesforlearning.com/fractionmagnet.aspx http://activitiesforlearning.com/fractiongamesboxed.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 We like fraction strips or bars better. http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/math/mathmanipulatives.html Scroll down to fractions and you'll see sets you can buy at RR, interactive fraction bars, and links to printables. Oops, I didn't see your post before I wrote mine. Thanks for this link. Lots of fun stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 I'm curious why you don't like the MUS overlays, as I've found in my experience with them and several other fraction manipulatives that the MUS overlays are by far the most clear physical representation of the concepts you're wanting to illustrate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usetoschool Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 We love pizza fractions - Learning Resources has games and sets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy in NJ Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 try to find something that'll work for us. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in CA Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 We love to play Fraction War for practice. Susie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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