Unit 2, Lesson 12
Ways to Compare Fractions
Grade 4
Preparation
Lesson Purpose
The purpose of this lesson is for students to compare fractions in a way that makes sense to them, including by reasoning about the size of fractional parts, common numerators or denominators, or relationships to benchmarks such as
Lesson Narrative
In previous lessons, students investigated the relative sizes of fractions with the same numerator or denominator. They also compared fractions to
Some students may make comparisons by writing equivalent fractions, which shows they are applying learning from earlier in the unit. However it is not necessary to highlight this approach at this point. In the next lesson, students will take a closer look at how equivalence can be used to compare fractions.
- Explain (orally and using words or other representations) strategies for comparing fractions.
- Let’s compare some fractions.
Required Materials
Activity 2
Required Preparation
Activity 2
- Each group of 2 needs 3 colored pencils (3 different colors).
Teacher Reflection Questions
Which questions did you ask today that were effective in prompting students to compare the size of fractions strategically or structurally? Which ones might have pushed students toward a particular method or process?
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