What Is a Fraction? Halves, Quarters and Thirds

Warning: Your screen size is quite small for viewing this. Rotate your device into landscape mode if you can.

1 Getting Started
2 Watch and Notice
3 Try It Together
4 Draw and Name in Your Copy
5 Class Challenge
6 What Did We Notice?
7 What's Next
Pupil practice

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

Illustration for Getting Started Imagine we have one big pizza to share between two people for lunch. How would we cut it so that it is fair, and both people get exactly the same amount? Hands up: where would you make the cut, and how do you know both pieces would be the same size?

Teacher Notes

Take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. Give five seconds of quiet think-time first. Listen for the word same or equal and revoice it: so the two pieces have to match exactly.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

A half

Watch as we cut one pizza into two equal pieces. One of these pieces is called one half. We write it as ½. The bottom number, 2, tells us the whole was cut into two equal pieces. Two halves together make the whole pizza again.

A quarter

Now watch a second pizza cut into four equal pieces. One of these pieces is called one quarter. We write it as ¼. The bottom number, 4, matches the four equal pieces. Notice how each quarter is smaller than a half. Four quarters make the whole pizza.

A third

Here is a third pizza cut into three equal pieces. One of these pieces is called one third. We write it as ⅓, and the bottom number, 3, tells us there are three equal pieces. Look hard: are all three pieces the same size?

Teacher Notes

Walk each example aloud, one at a time, pointing at the shaded slice.

A half — say two equal pieces, one shaded; that one piece is one half, written ½. Point at the bottom number 2 and the two slices so pupils see they match. Emphasise the pieces must be the same size.
A quarter — ask the class to compare the shaded quarter with the shaded half: which piece is bigger? Point out that the 4 in ¼ matches the four equal pieces.
A third — pause before naming it; ask how many equal pieces can you count? then name it one third (⅓). The big idea: the number of equal pieces gives the fraction its name, and that count is the bottom number.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Try It Together ~8 mins

Let's try this together. I'll call out a number, and one pupil at the board will cut the pizza into that many equal pieces, shade one piece, and tell us its name. We'll do a half, a quarter and a third. Everyone else: watch carefully and be ready to agree or disagree on whether all the pieces are really the same size.

Cut, shade and name

Teacher Notes

This round is for talking it through together — one pupil acts at the board and the watching class agrees or corrects out loud.

Call one pupil up at a time. Before each cut, ask the whole class to predict the number of equal pieces. The pupil cuts into the named number of equal pieces, shades one, and reads the fraction aloud. After each one, ask the class: thumbs up if all the pieces match in size, thumbs sideways if you would change something, then revoice the pupil's answer so the room hears it again. Rotate three pupils across a half, a quarter and a third. Watch for pupils who cut unequal pieces — revoice: fraction pieces must always match in size.

+15 XP

4 - Draw and Name in Your Copy ~3 mins

COPYBOOK MOMENT

In your maths copy, draw three circles. Cut one into halves, one into quarters and one into thirds. Shade one part of each circle and write its name underneath each one.

one half
one quarter
one third

Teacher Notes

Walk the room glancing at whether the pieces in each circle look roughly the same size and whether the names are spelt and matched correctly — no individual marking, this is whole-class copybook practice.

+10 XP

5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Today we work through these together on the board: show one half, then one quarter, then one third, then three quarters. So far we have shaded one piece each time. For three quarters, we shade three of the four equal pieces, because the top number tells us how many equal pieces to shade.

Key point

Each time, check that all your pieces are the same size before you decide it is right.

Show the fraction

Teacher Notes

This round is the practice bank — pupils take turns at the board, check each answer, and the class confirms before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

For each target, ask the class to predict the number of equal pieces before the pupil cuts. Use the on-screen ✓ as part of your narration: yes — that's it. Add the callout are all your pieces really the same size? on each one. Before the three-quarters target, point at the board: one quarter shaded one piece; three quarters means we shade three of the four equal pieces. This is the first time the top number is more than one, so build it slowly where pupils can see it.

+15 XP

6 - What Did We Notice? ~3 mins

MATHS TALK

If we cut a pizza into four equal pieces instead of two, why does each piece get smaller? Talk it through with the class.

Teacher Notes

Listen for pupils saying the whole pizza is the same size but it is being shared between more people. Revoice a strong answer: the more equal pieces we cut, the smaller each piece has to be, because the whole stays the same. Head off the misconception that four is a bigger number so a quarter must be bigger than a half.

+10 XP

7 - What's Next ~2 mins

What we learned today

A fraction names equal parts of one whole.
One half (½), one quarter (¼) and one third (⅓) are all made by cutting a whole into equal pieces.
The bottom number tells how many equal pieces the whole was cut into, and more pieces means each piece is smaller.

Coming up

Next we will look at the same fractions in other shapes, in lengths and in sets of things, so you can find one half of a chocolate bar and one half of a group of counters too.

Teacher Notes

Keep this brief. Recap the three named fractions and the big idea that the parts must be equal. No need to set up the next lesson's apparatus now.

+5 XP

Pupil practice

Module 3 · Fractions and First Decimals Number

Lesson 29 · What Is a Fraction? Halves, Quarters and Thirds

Download Activity Book page (PDF)

End of lesson

123learn · Online learning platform

Unlock the full learning experience

You're previewing this lesson. Get full access to this lesson and hundreds more — each one ready to teach, with interactive activities, printable resources and pupil progress tracking built in.

Hundreds of curriculum-aligned lessons

Interactive activities in every lesson

Printable resources & progress tracking

Get started

Copyright Notice
This lesson is copyright of 123Learn.ie 2017 - 2025. Unauthorised use, copying or distribution is not allowed.

Teacher Class Feed

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

A half

A quarter

A third

3 - Try It Together ~8 mins

Cut, shade and name

4 - Draw and Name in Your Copy ~3 mins

5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Show the fraction

6 - What Did We Notice? ~3 mins

7 - What's Next ~2 mins

What we learned today

Coming up

Unlock the full learning experience

XP