TCNJ Lesson Plan

Adding and Subtracting Parts of a Whole

Student Name: Sara Calabrese School Name: Hopewell Elementary

Grade Level: 4th Grade Host Teachers Name: Ms. Fleisher

Guiding and/or Essential Questions:

1. When can we add or subtract parts of a whole?
2. How can we represent addition or subtraction of fractions with models?

Pre-lesson Assignments and/or Student Prior Knowledge:

The students have been practicing their work with fractions, and so far have learned how
to simplify fractions, find the least common denominator between two fractions, and solve if a
pair of fractions are less than, greater than, or equal to one another. They are familiar with
fractions with the same denominators and fractions with different denominators. They are also
familiar with simple addition and subtraction of single digit numbers.

Standards:

4.NF.B.3a Understand a fraction a/b with a > 1 as a sum of fractions 1/b. Understand addition
and subtraction of fractions as joining and separating parts referring to the same whole.

Learning Objectives and Assessments:

Learning Objectives Assessments

Students will understand that to add or
subtract fractions, they must refer to parts of
the same whole.
Students will adding and subtracting fractions
with both like denominators and unlike
denominators on their whiteboards and in
independent work. Teacher will assess for
accuracy.

Students will apply their understanding of Students will be playing fraction Bingo and
adding and subtracting fractions of like will be crossing off problems that they solve
denominators and will practice solving them. correctly to win the game. Teacher will assess
for accuracy of the answers of each question.
Materials/Resources:
Whiteboards
Dry Erase Markers (Blue and Red)
Erasers
Bingo boards
 Bingo questions
Math workbooks
Scrap Paper

Plan for set-up/distribution/cleanup of materials:

Students will be asked to come to the carpet with a white board, 2 dry erase markers of different
color, and an eraser. There will be a powerpoint presentation and a station assignment slide ready
to go for when the students arrive. At the game center, the students will each get their own bingo
board. At the independent center, the students will be using their workbooks. At the center with
Ms. Calabrese

Step by Step plan:

1. Lesson Beginning: The students will be asked to arrive to the carpet with a white
board, 2 different colored dry erase markers, and an eraser. Ms. Calabrese will briefly
introduce the math lesson by going over what the students have done over the past week
during the math period. She will tell them that today they are going to practice some
strategies for adding and subtracting fractions.
2. Ms. Calabrese will pull up a slide on the screen that will reveal the warm up
question. The question will say: Jack and Jill decided to share a pizza. Jack ate 2/8 of the
pizza, and Jill ate 1/8 of the pizza. How much of the pizza did Jack and Jill eat
altogether? The students will be given a few minutes to complete this problem on their
whiteboards using any method they choose.
3. Ms. Calabrese will then write on the board to represent this problem in her own
drawing method. First, she will draw 2 circles divided into 8 equally sized parts, and
shade one to show and the other to show 2/8. She will then call on students to describe
each circle verbally, and she will explain that these circles represent what each Jack and
Jill ate of the pizza. She will then say that instead, since they ate from the same pizza, or
the same whole, that she will combine these 2 pictures into one. She will draw one circle,
divide it into 8 equally sized parts, shade in 2 of the parts with one color and an
additional 1 part with the other color. She will then explain that if she counts up all of
these shaded parts together, which represent what each of them ate from the pizza, she
will have the answer. Students will be asked to raise their hands with a final answer,
which is .
4. Ms. Calabrese will then show the students how to represent this with numbers,
rather than with just pictures. She will write the number sentence + = ?. She will
explain that all they have to do is to add the numerators. So + = (1+3)/5= .
5. Ms. Calabrese will then show the students an example of how the requirements
for adding and subtracting fractions is that they must be a part of the same whole. She
will reveal another question on the board, which will say: Jack and Jill are now sharing
an apple pie. Jack eats of the pie and Jill eats of the pie. How much did they eat all
 together? Ms. Calabrese will ask the students to write this out into a number sentence,
but without answering the question right away, and to cap their markers and put them on
the floor when they are done. She will then take some student responses as to why this
problem is different, and what they could do to make it more solvable. Together, they will
come up with they strategy to solve addition and subtraction problems with unlike
denominators, which is finding the common denominator and converting each fraction so
that they have the same denominators. They will then try it with another set of unlike
fractions.
6. Ms. Calabrese will then tell the students that they will be splitting up into stations,
and she will then display the stations slide on the board, which will indicate which of the
3 centers each student will be going to first.
7. Station 1 will be working with Ms. Calabrese on the front carpet. They will be
working on practice problems from the textbook.
8. Station 2 will be the independent work center at the hexagon and rectangle desk
areas. Students will be asked to work on pages 385 and 387.
9. Station 3 will be the game/ group work center at the back table. At this station, the
students will be playing fraction Bingo! Ms. Gonzalez will working with the students at
this station, and she will be the number caller. She will have a list of addition and
subtraction fraction problems that she read out one at a time. The students will be using
scrap paper if they need it, and when they solve the problem, if the answer is on their
board, they get to cross it out. Once they cross out 5 in a row going in any consistent
direction, they win and call out Bingo.

Key Questions:
1. What must be true of a number sentence for us to be able to add or subtract the
fractions?
2. What can we do with fractions of unlike denominators to be able to add or
subtract them?

Logistics:
Timing: Given: 60 minutes
Mini Lesson: 8 minutes
Center 1: 15 minutes
Center 2: 15 minutes
Center 3: 15 minutes

Transitions:
Once students sit down on the carpet with a whiteboard, 2 different color markers, and a
eraser. During the mini lesson where the students will be asked to write an answer on their
whiteboards, the students will be asked to cap their markers and to put it on the floor next to
them when they are done. When the students are in their centers, and the time is up, Ms.
Calabrese will get the students attention by saying Hand on top to which they will reply
Everybody stop, and Ms. Calabrese will tell the students that it is time to rotate stations, and
that they center slide will still be on the board for their reference.

Classroom Management:
Students will have a whiteboard, 2 markers, and an eraser with them as they arrive to the
carpet, and Ms. Calabrese will be ask them to just hold on to them for a moment and not write
anything down. Students will be giving Ms. Calabrese responses by raising their hands to share.
Students will be moved through the stations as they are instructed to do so. Students will be
asked to keep the noise level at a minimum when working with groups.

Differentiation:
Students will be using their whiteboards and dry erase makers, but the students that prefer
to use their chromebooks will be asked to do so. If a student is struggling with the problems
during the mini lesson or during Ms. Calabreses center, they may ask Ms. Calabrese. If the
students in the independent station finish early, they may work on page 388.