Taylor VanMeighem 1

Lesson: 3rd Grade Fraction Introduction

Lesson Goal: The purpose of this lesson is to introduce fractions to students

through part-whole and part-set relationships. Students need to develop an
understanding of fractions as numbers in order to begin thinking and talking
in fractional terms. Students will accomplish this by completing observation
charts in small groups, sharing with one another as a whole group (think-pair-
share), and practicing the skills they learned through a skills sheet that they
will take home for homework.

State/ National Content Standard:

13-1: Parts of a Whole

3.NF.1 Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a

whole is partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the
quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b.

Content Objectives:

Students will be able to develop an understanding of fractions as numbers.

Students will be able to write fraction sentences.

Social and Academic Language Demands:

This lesson has many language demands since it consists of an interactive

whole group discussion, small group discussion, and a writing assignment. All
of which involve a lot of student interaction.

Students will need to understand basic interaction skills in order to

participate in a whole class discussion during the creation of an anchor
chart.
Students will need to know how to interact properly when given the
opportunity to discuss fractions with a partner.
Students will need to be able to verbally share their thinking to the
whole class during discussion.
Students will need to be able to show their understanding of the
difference between the numerator and denominator.
Students will need to be able to share their thinking with their
group/partner and be able to rephrase what their group/partner said to
the whole class.
 Taylor VanMeighem 2

Students will need to be able to listen to classmates when presenting

their thinking.
Students will need to be able to read the instructions on their
worksheet given for homework.

One Social and One Academic Language Demand:

In order to show that the students understood the lesson, the students
will need to have a way to demonstrate their knowledge. Thus, the language
demand I would focus on would be the student's ability to show their
understanding of the material taught during the lesson. This could be orally
through class discussion or handwritten during the activity or on the
worksheet given out for homework. I understand that it can be difficult and
intimidating for an ELL student to show their thinking when they aren't
proficient in English. Therefore, they are given multiple ways to express their
thinking and understanding of the material we are learning in class.
Specifically, in this lesson, students are given pictorial observation charts
and have the opportunity to work in small groups. Pictorial observation
charts will help those who are more comfortable with visuals instead of
writing while small groups allow for collaboration. ELL students can benefit
from hearing the ideas of peers when they don't have some of their own and
they won't just sit in class confused. As for the academic demand, I believe
writing fraction sentences would be the most difficult for ELL students. The
interactive whole group discussion at the beginning of the lesson and the
activity using pictorial observation charts will help them understand this
best. During the whole class discussion the teacher will model, model, model
on an anchor chart and leave that up throughout the lesson while the activity
gives all students the opportunity to practice this skill in order to understand
the concept better.

Language Objective:

Students will be able to articulate a fraction sentence either orally or written.