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Lesson Plan
Visually Multiplying Fractions
Help students color-code their way to multiplying fractions! Students will learn how to multiply fractions using area models. Use this lesson on its own or use it as support to the lesson Area Models and Multiplying Fractions.
Grade
Subject
View aligned standards
Objectives
Academic
Students will be able to multiply fractions using an area model.
Language
Students will be able to review their thinking as they multiply fractions using color-coding and area models.
Introduction
(5 minutes)- Tell students you went to a party and you have ⅔ of your cake left. Ask them to draw a tape diagram on a piece of scrap paper that represents how much cake you have left over.
- Observe student work to gather information about their ability to represent fractions pictorially and whether they can solve the problem. Have students share their pictures with their partners.
- Tell them that you brought the remaining cake to the teacher's lounge and ½ of it fell down on your way there.
- Give them a minute to think about how to figure out how to find out the remaining amount of cake using their tape diagrams. Have them write notes on the Review Your Thinking! worksheet. (Note: they're not expected to know the answer yet, but this is a good way to gather background information on how familiar they are with fractions and representing them in pictorial models.)
- Explain that during the lesson they'll learn how to make fractional parts of fractions to figure out what is remaining using area models. In this case, they'll find out what fraction of your birthday cake is left over.
