Fractions - Equivalent Fractions (3) - Starter

In a mathematics lesson for Year 4 students during the Spring Term's sixth week, the focus is on understanding and identifying equivalent fractions. The lesson starts with a 'Fluent in Four' revision exercise, which involves subtraction problems to warm up the students' arithmetic skills. For instance, students are asked to calculate the difference between 7,962 and 739 by breaking down the numbers into thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones, and then performing the subtraction operation. This helps reinforce their understanding of place value and the subtraction process.

The lesson then dives into the concept of fractions. Students explore unit fractions, which are defined as fractions with a numerator of 1, and non-unit fractions, where the numerator is one less than the denominator. Through a series of exercises, students are asked to complete a number sentence, articulate it in words, and represent it visually with a part-whole model. For example, they would express and illustrate that four hundred plus one hundred equals five hundred (400 + 100 = 500). The lesson also includes activities where students match pictorial representations to words, demonstrating their understanding of equivalent fractions, such as recognising that two-thirds is equivalent to six-ninths, and three-fifths is equivalent to six-tenths. True or False questions further test their grasp of the material, ensuring they can differentiate between unit and non-unit fractions and correctly identify equivalent fractions.