Sample Lessons – Grade 5

Sample Lessons from Multiplication and Division of Fractions Unit of Study:

Sharing Vanilla Wafers: In this lesson, students will build on their understanding of division as equal shares using Play-Doh to divide amounts that do not partition evenly. They will understand and describe fractions as division of whole numbers as well as explain the meaning of the numerator and denominator in context.

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Sharing Vanilla Wafers

Multiplying Fractions on the Number Line: Students will use a number line to model the multiplication of fractions, seeing a factor as representing one distance and the other factor representing the fraction of that distance they will travel.   Students will study the results to explain when the product of two fractions is greater than, equal to, or less than 1. Students will look at patterns with the factors and products to derive the fact that a/b x c/d = ac/bd.

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Multiplying Fractions on a Number Line

Dividing Fractions Part 1: Students will use quotative division to rewrite division of fraction problems as “How many ____ are in ___”, and use this definition with an area model to divide a whole number by a fraction. Students will first understand this by seeing how many of a smaller pattern block fit into a larger one and then relating the context to the math behind it.

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Dividing Fractions I

How Far Can You Jump?: Students will measure the distance (in fractions of meters) each student can jump and represent this data on a line plot. Students will answer questions comparing distances with multiplicative comparisons, representing each question with a math sentence and solution applying the four operations with fractions.

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How Far Can You Jump