Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term v5 - Grade 3
Fractions: halves, thirds and quarters – Week 3 focus
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Fractions: halves, thirds and quarters – Week 3 focus
Download the Lessonotes Mobile South Africa app for faster lesson access on Android and iPhone.
Subject: Mathematics
Class: Grade 3
Term: 2nd Term
Week: 3
Theme: General lesson support
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Welcome to Week 3 of our Mathematics journey! This week, we're diving deeper into the fascinating world of fractions! We'll be focusing specifically on halves, thirds, and quarters. Understanding fractions is super important because we use them every day, even if we don't realize it! Imagine sharing a slab of chocolate with your friends, cutting a birthday cake, or measuring ingredients to bake cookies. Fractions help us divide things equally and fairly. In South Africa, we often share food and resources within our families and communities, making understanding fractions a valuable skill. Think about sharing a loaf of bread amongst family members – that's fractions in action!
Let's explore what halves, thirds, and quarters really mean! What is a Fraction? A fraction is a part of a whole. The whole thing could be an object (like a pizza) or a collection of objects (like a group of sweets). A fraction tells us how many of those parts we have. Halves (1/2) When we divide something into two equal parts, each part is called a half. The fraction notation for a half is 1/
2. The number '1' (numerator) tells us how many parts we have (one part), and the number '2' (denominator) tells us how many equal parts the whole is divided into (two parts).
Example 1: Imagine you have a delicious vetkoek. You want to share it equally with your best friend. You cut the vetkoek into two equal pieces. Each piece is one half (1/2) of the vetkoek.
Example 2: You have 8 marbles and want to give half to your sibling. To find half of 8, you divide 8 by 2. 8 ÷ 2 =
4. So, half of 8 marbles is 4 marbles. Thirds (1/3) When we divide something into three equal parts, each part is called a third. The fraction notation for a third is 1/
3. The number '1' (numerator) tells us how many parts we have (one part), and the number '3' (denominator) tells us how many equal parts the whole is divided into (three parts).
Example 1: Your mom baked a round of pot bread. You want to share it with two friends, so you have three people in total. You cut the pot bread into three equal pieces. Each piece is one third (1/3) of the pot bread.
Example 2: You have 9 oranges and want to find one third of them. To find one third of 9, you divide 9 by 3. 9 ÷ 3 =
3. So, one third of 9 oranges is 3 oranges. Quarters (1/4) When we divide something into four equal parts, each part is called a quarter. The fraction notation for a quarter is 1/
4. The number '1' (numerator) tells us how many parts we have (one part), and the number '4' (denominator) tells us how many equal parts the whole is divided into (four parts). Sometimes a quarter is called 'one-fourth'.
Example 1: You have a square of chocolate. You want to share it with three friends, so you have four people in total. You break the chocolate into four equal pieces. Each piece is one quarter (1/4) of the chocolate square.
Example 2: You have 12 sweets and want to find one quarter of them. To find one quarter of 12, you divide 12 by 4. 12 ÷ 4 =
3. So, one quarter of 12 sweets is 3 sweets. Comparing Fractions It's important to understand that the more pieces you divide something into, the smaller each piece becomes. So, a quarter is smaller than a third, and a third is smaller than a half. Imagine you have two identical samoosas. You cut one samoosa into halves and the other into quarters. Which piece would you rather have? You'd probably want the half because it's a bigger piece! This shows that 1/2 is bigger than 1/
4. Guided Practice (With Solutions) Let's practice what we've learned!
Question 1: Draw a circle and divide it into halves. Shade one half. Write the fraction that represents the shaded part.
Solution: [Imagine a circle divided in half with one half shaded] The shaded part represents one half (1/2) of the circle.
Commentary: We divided the circle into two equal parts, and we shaded one of those parts. This clearly shows one half.
Question 2: You have a loaf of bread. You want to share it equally amongst 3 people. What fraction of the loaf does each person get?
Solution: Each person gets one third (1/3) of the loaf.
Commentary: Since there are 3 people sharing equally, the loaf is divided into 3 parts. Each person gets one of those parts, which is one third.
Question 3: You have 8 apples. How many apples are in one quarter of the group?
Solution: To find one quarter of 8 apples, divide 8 by 4. 8 ÷ 4 = 2 apples.
Commentary: We know that one quarter means dividing by
4. So, we perform the division to find the number of apples in one quarter.
Question 4: Which is bigger: one half (1/2) or one quarter (1/4) of a chocolate bar? Explain your answer.
Solution: One half (1/2) is bigger than one quarter (1/4). When you divide something into fewer pieces, each piece is larger. A chocolate bar cut in half will have larger pieces than a chocolate bar cut into quarters.
Commentary: This question tests the understanding that as the denominator increases (more parts), the size of each part decreases. Independent Practice (Questions Only) Now it's your turn to try some questions on your own! Draw a rectangle and divide it into quarters. Shade three quarters. What fraction represents the shaded part? You have a pizza cut into 8 slices. What fraction of the pizza is one slice? (Hint: can you simplify the fraction?) You have 15 marbles. How many marbles are in one third of the group? You have a rope. You cut it into 4 equal pieces. Each piece is 2 meters long. How long was the original rope? Nomsa ate 1/2 of a sandwich, and Thabo ate 1/4 of the same sandwich. Who ate more? You have 6 sweets. You give 1/3 of the sweets to your friend. How many sweets did you give away?