cutting the playdough pizzas with different numbers of slices

Usually, Drama Queen is pretty good at math. Sometimes.. she doesn’t get it when I explain a new concept (like arranging fractions in order from least to greatest, and how bigger denominators are actually smaller pieces) — because she’s Auditory/Kinesthetic, so just looking at the fractions on the page, it’s not clicking. And because she’s left brained and I’m right brained so sometimes I don’t explain things in a way that makes it click for her. When this happens, we go kinesthetic. Today’s lesson in pictures is brought to you by the power of playdough:

making playdough pies to cut into fractions

cutting the playdough pizzas with different numbers of slices

arranging a piece from each pizza by size

Now making nine equal length playdough ropes

cutting each rope into a different number of equal size pieces

Taking one piece from each rope, mixing them up, and arranging them by size.

arranging again, demonstrating that the larger the denominator, the smaller the portion

The end result: “Ohhhh, I get it!..”

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Amber

Hey, y’all! I’m Amber and I wear many hats. I drink a ton of coffee and I’m constantly sweeping crumbs off the floor. After 18 years of homeschooling, I’m getting close to graduating my third child and now we are starting over at preschool with our fourth, Lil Miss Mouse. She keeps us young and she’s the main reason for my excessive coffee consumption. Drink up!