options: Number Systems and Quantity: students learn to understand the complex number system and reason quantitatively.

Measurement & Data: students learn to work with data and measure attributes such as time, money, length, area, and volume. They may learn to compare measurements to operations and convert between different units of measure.

Counting & Cardinality: students learn to know number names and the count sequence, count to tell the number of objects, and compare numbers.

Operations & Algebra: students learn to solve problems using algebraic thinking and operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. They may learn to identify and explain arithmetic patterns, evaluate or manipulate numerical expressions, and reason with equations and inequalities.

Functions: students learn to define, use, and evaluate functions to model relationships between quantities.

Number & Operations - Fractions: students learn to understand fractions as numbers and may work with them using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Number & Operations in Base Ten: students learn to work with the base-ten system and build place value understanding.

Statistics & Probability: students learn to analyze and produce data distributions, and build understanding of univariate and bivariate data. They learn to interpret data, make statistical inferences, justify conclusions, understand rules of probability, and use probability to make decisions.

Modeling: students learn to choose and use appropriate mathematics and statistics to analyze real-world empirical situations, improve decisions, and report on their conclusions and the reasoning behind them.

Ratios & Proportional Relationships: students learn to recognize, describe, represent, and reason with ratios, rates, proportional relationships, and percent.

Geometry: students learn to classify geometric figures by their properties, and understand and compare the relationships between them. Students develop and use formulas to compute lengths, areas, and volumes, and they use transformations to generate new shapes and compare existing ones. Geometry can be studied with and without coordinates.
problem_activity: Narrative
The purpose of this activity is to introduce the language of
a half of
and
a fourth of
a
shape. Students begin by applying the language of halves and fourths, or quarters, to partition each shape. Students are asked to describe “how much” of each shape is shaded to elicit a variety of responses that include half, fourth, or quarter, including the phrases “of the square” or “of the circle.” Monitor for a variety of words and phrases to share in the synthesis including:
phrases that reference the pieces only (“one piece”).
phrases that reference that some, but not all of the shape is shaded (“part of it,” “a little bit”)
phrases that name the pieces (“a half,” “a fourth,” “a quarter”)
phrases that name the pieces in reference to the whole shape (“a half of the square,” “a fourth of the circle”)
All responses should be shared and compared in the synthesis to help build students understanding of the new vocabulary and the concept of fractional pieces of a whole (MP6).
Required Materials
Materials to Gather
Colored pencils or crayons
Launch
Groups of 2
Give students access to colored pencils or crayons.
Activity
Read the task statement.
2 minutes: independent work time.
2 minutes: partner discussion
Monitor for a range of ways to describe the amount shaded such as “some is shaded,” “one piece of the square is shaded,” “one out of two pieces is shaded,” or “a half is shaded.”
Student Facing
Split the square into halves.
[IMG]
Color in one of the halves.
How much of the square is colored in?
Split the circle into fourths.
[IMG]
Color in one of the fourths.
How much of the circle is colored in?
Student Response
Teachers with a valid work email address can
click here to register or sign in
for free access to Student Response.
Activity Synthesis
Invite previously identified students to share for each problem. Sequence the students in the order described in the narrative.
“One piece of a shape split into two pieces that are the same size is called
a half
. One piece of a shape split into four pieces that are the same size is called
a fourth
.”
For each shape, invite students to describe how much is colored in. (A half of the square is colored in. A fourth of the circle is colored in.)


correct_option_index: 10