Mathematics
Intermediate
40 mins
Teacher/Student led
+80 XP
What you need:
IWB/Projector/Large Screen

Naming Fractions: Fifths, Eighths and Tenths

Learn to name and recognise fifths, eighths and tenths by cutting pizzas into equal parts, shading fractions, and comparing how the size of each piece changes as the number of parts increases.

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    1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

    Illustration for Getting StartedHere is a pizza already cut into eight equal slices. If eight people share it fairly, how could you describe the one slice each person gets? There is no wrong answer here, it is just a sharing question, so say it in your own words.

    Hands up: have you ever shared a pizza or a cake fairly so everyone got an equal piece? How many pieces did you cut it into?

    2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

    One fifth

    Watch this pizza cut into five equal parts. One part is one fifth. The five tells us the whole was cut into five equal pieces.

    One eighth

    Now the pizza is cut into eight equal parts. One part is one eighth. More pieces means each piece is smaller.

    Three tenths

    Here the pizza is cut into ten equal parts, and three of them are shaded. That is three tenths. The bottom number, ten, names the pieces; the three tells us how many we have shaded.

    3 - Try It Together ~8 mins

    Now we build fractions together on the board. One pupil comes up to cut the pizza and shade the slices; everyone else reads the fraction aloud and checks that all the pieces are the same size. When a fraction is called, the pupil at the board cuts the pizza into that many equal parts and shades the right number, then we all read it aloud together.

    Build the fraction

    4 - Draw the Bars in Your Copy ~3 mins

    COPYBOOK MOMENT

    Illustration for Draw the Bars in Your CopyIn your maths copy, draw three bars. Cut one into fifths, one into eighths and one into tenths. Shade one part of each, and write its name underneath: one fifth, one eighth, one tenth.

    5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

    Today we work through these together: show one fifth, then one eighth, then three tenths, then five eighths. The more pieces we cut, the smaller each one is, so check your slices carefully each time.

    Name and show the fraction

    6 - What Did We Notice? ~3 mins

    MATHS TALK

    Which is bigger, one fifth or one tenth? How can you tell just by looking at the pieces? And what changes about each piece when we cut the same pizza into more parts?

    7 - What's Next ~3 mins

    What we learned today

    • One whole cut into 5, 8 or 10 equal parts gives fifths, eighths and tenths.
    • The bottom number names how many equal pieces; the top number tells how many we have shaded.
    • The more pieces we cut, the smaller each one is.

    Coming up

    Next we will find fractions like these on a number line, between 0 and 1.

    Pupil practice
    Module 3 · Fractions and First Decimals Number
    Lesson 31 · Naming Fractions: Fifths, Eighths and Tenths
    Download Activity Book page (PDF)
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