by Mario Depeine Sr

Created on: July 10, 2010   Last Updated: July 11, 2010

Fractions are the things that a lot of children and adults find challenging. Really, if you look at the basics of fractions you and your child will have an easier time at understanding them and working with them.

I will focus on the addition of fractions.  The first thing I want to stress is that a fraction just means the breaking up of something into parts or pieces.  As kids when we wanted a share of a good piece of cake we looked forward to getting a big part or fraction of it.  The portion that you received when there were three kids was better than the portion you would receive if there were 6 kids who needed to get a piece of that cake.

The fraction strips (http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/fractions/frac tionstrips.pdf) are useful to make comparisons of fractions.  You can see how 1/2 is the big gest fraction (portion), while the other fractions are much smaller as the denominator (bottom number) increases.  The denominator tells us how many ways the whole cake is divided.   It tells us how many people will get a share (fraction) of the whole cake.

In the fraction, one third (1/3), the cake is divided between three (3) people.  The denominator is 3.  In the case of one ninth (1/9), the cake is divided between nine (9) people.  The denominator is 9.  A person would do better to have 1/3 of a cake than to have 1/9 of the same cake.  It takes three ninths (1/9) to get one third (1/3).  Look at the fraction strip.

You will have a better illustration of various fractions if you use the  fraction strip (www.superteacherworksheets.com/fractions/fractionstr ips.pdf).  Print the strip or look on as you practice the problems below.

When you add all of the parts together you get back the whole.  For example, 1/3 plus (+) 1/3 is equal to 2/3.  While 1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 equal to 3/3 (three thirds) or a whole (1).  When you divide a number by itself, you get 1.  In fractions you are adding only the numerators (top numbers) not the denominators (the bottom numbers).  

You add thirds (1/3) with thirds, fifths (1/5) with fifths and so on.  You are looking to compare the same portions or fractions when you keep the denominators the same or use a number that they both can be easily and completely divided into.  You can add 1/2 plus 1/2.  When you do that, you see that those two parts will always equal the “whole.”

Using the fraction strips

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