Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term v5 - Grade 3

Lesson Video

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Performance objectives

• Identify and represent halves, thirds, and quarters.
• Divide objects and sets into equal parts.
• Write the fractions ½, ⅓, and ¼.
• Compare these fractions.
• Solve simple word problems.

Lesson summary

Fractions are all around us! Imagine you're sharing a delicious vetkoek with your friends after school, or dividing a slab of chocolate into equal pieces for your family. Fractions help us understand and share things equally. In Grade 3, we're learning the basics of fractions, and this week we'll be focusing on three important ones: halves, thirds, and quarters. Understanding these fractions is crucial not only for maths but also for everyday life, from sharing food fairly to understanding time. Learning fractions helps us build a strong foundation for more advanced maths concepts in the future, like decimals and percentages.

Lesson notes

What is a Fraction? A fraction represents a part of a whole. It tells us how many parts we have out of the total number of equal parts.

A fraction has two parts: Numerator: The number on top. It tells us how many parts we have.

Denominator: The number on the bottom. It tells us the total number of equal parts the whole is divided into.

We write fractions like this: Numerator / Denominator Halves (½): A half means dividing something into two equal parts. The denominator is always

2. If you have a whole apple and cut it in half, you have two equal pieces. Each piece is one half (½) of the apple.

Example 1: Imagine you have a loaf of bread (a roosterkoek!). If you share it equally with one friend, you each get one half (½) of the roosterkoek.

Example 2: Draw a circle. Now draw a line through the middle of the circle, dividing it into two equal parts. Each part is ½ of the circle. Thirds (⅓): A third means dividing something into three equal parts. The denominator is always

3. If you have a chocolate bar and want to share it equally with two friends (making three people in total), you would divide it into three equal pieces. Each piece is one third (⅓) of the chocolate bar.

Example 1: Imagine you have a small box of 9 marbles. You want to divide them equally between 3 friends. How many marbles does each friend get? To find out ⅓ of 9, you divide 9 by 3: 9 ÷ 3 =

3. Each friend gets 3 marbles, which is ⅓ of the box of marbles.

Example 2: Draw a rectangle. Now divide it into three equal parts. Each part is ⅓ of the rectangle. Quarters (¼): A quarter means dividing something into four equal parts. The denominator is always

4. Think of a pizza cut into four slices. Each slice is one quarter (¼) of the pizza.

Example 1: You have a packet of 12 biscuits. You want to share it equally among 4 people. How many biscuits does each person get? To find out ¼ of 12, you divide 12 by 4: 12 ÷ 4 =

3. Each person gets 3 biscuits, which is ¼ of the packet of biscuits.

Example 2: Draw a square. Now divide it into four equal parts. Each part is ¼ of the square.

Comparing Fractions: With the same whole: If you cut a pizza into halves and another pizza into quarters, each half slice is bigger than each quarter slice. So, ½ is bigger than ¼. Also, ¼ is less than ½. And ¼ is less than ⅓. When comparing fractions visually, make sure the wholes are the SAME size. Guided Practice (With Solutions)

Question 1: Draw a rectangle. Shade in one half (½) of the rectangle.

Solution: Draw a rectangle. Divide it into two equal parts by drawing a line down the middle. Shade in one of the two parts. This shaded part represents ½ of the rectangle. The why is that we divided the rectangle into two equal parts (denominator 2), and shaded one part (numerator 1).

Question 2: You have 6 sweets. You want to give one third (⅓) of the sweets to your friend. How many sweets will you give your friend?

Solution: To find ⅓ of 6, we need to divide 6 by 3. 6 ÷ 3 =

2. You will give your friend 2 sweets. The how is that division is the inverse of multiplication, and 3 x 2 =

6. Question 3: A pizza is cut into 4 equal slices. What fraction represents one slice of the pizza?

Solution: The pizza is divided into 4 equal parts (denominator 4), and we are considering one slice (numerator 1).

Therefore, one slice represents ¼ of the pizza. The why is directly from the definition of a fraction.

Question 4: Sipho has 8 oranges. He gives half to his sister. How many oranges did he give her?

Solution: We need to find one half of

8. We divide 8 by 2: 8 ÷ 2 =

4. Sipho gave his sister 4 oranges. We divided by 2 because halves mean dividing into two equal parts. Independent Practice (Questions Only) Draw a circle. Divide it into thirds. Shade in one third of the circle. You have 12 crayons. You want to give one quarter to your brother. How many crayons will you give him? A cake is cut into 3 equal slices. What fraction represents one slice of the cake? Thandi has 10 apples. She eats half of them. How many apples did she eat? Sarah has a chocolate bar divided into 4 equal pieces. She eats one piece. What fraction of the chocolate bar did she eat? Draw a square. Divide it into quarters. Colour two quarters of the square blue and the remaining two quarters red. Mom bought 6 bananas and said Peter can have one third of them. How many bananas can Peter have?

Which is bigger: half of a small orange or a quarter of a large orange? (Think carefully!) Grandmother made 8 cookies. She gave Jabu and his sister each one quarter of the cookies. How many cookies did they each receive? How many cookies were left over?