Partition circles and rectangles into two, three, or four equal shares; describe shares as halves, thirds, and fourths; recognise that equal shares of identical wholes need not have the same shape
You already know how to split shapes into halves and quarters. Now you can split them into thirds too. No matter how many parts you make, every part must be exactly the same size.
Mia cuts a rectangle into 4 equal strips. Each strip is the same size, so each one is called a fourth.
There is more than one way to cut a rectangle into fourths. You could draw 4 strips, or 4 small squares. The pieces look different, but each one takes up the same amount of the same rectangle, so both ways give fourths. To check any cut, count the parts first, then check that every part is the same size.
Equal shares can look different, but if every part is the same size, the fraction name stays the same.
Practice items adapted from Open Middle problems (Shape Partitions); license not recorded.
Last year the herb bed got more rows, and every share came out smaller. Nobody is digging today. Leo and Mia are planning next season's plots on paper first.
Mia rules the long paper bed into 4 strips, all the same width, one strip for each grower. What is one grower's strip called?
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
12 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.