Jenny Clipper

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Jenny Clipper

CoTeach Instruction

November 27, 2002

Grade Level: Advanced 5^th

1. The Fraction Track Game, from Name that Portion (Investigations series).

2. Materials needed:

Each group of four needs a game kit, which includes:

Game board (1)

Deck of 32 Fraction cards

Chips to use as place markers (50)

For the Teacher:

Transparency of part of the game board to teach the game

Wet erase marker

3 Fraction cards to demonstrate

Chips to use as place markers (10)

3. Purpose of Game:

To help students develop the concept that fractions can be broken down. To see the relationship between fractions to one another by finding equivalent fractions and adding them.

4. Adaptations of accommodations that might be needed: Students with fine motor impairments can dictate their moves to a partner, who can move his or her chips on the board.

5. Introducing the Game

a. The rules I will give the students:

I will draw the children’s’ attention to the overhead, where I have a copy of part of their game board.

I will have them fill in the gaps in the game board aloud, while I write them in.

I will explain the goal of the game, which is to get your chip exactly to one. When a player has done so, he or she gets to keep that chip.

All of the chips on the board belong to everyone; the chip becomes yours once you reach the goal.

The way to get your chip to one is to draw a fraction card. This is the total move that you can make. You can use it all one one track, or you can split it up to as many as you would like.

At this point I will show a 4/5 card and demonstrate the following possible moves:

You could move 8/10 on the tenths line, but that would not get you a chip.

You cannot move the whole distance on the fifths track, because you only have 4/5. You could 3 of the 4 fifths to get from 2/5 to one, then you must move the other fifth on another track, 2/10 on the tenths track.

b. I will demonstrate the game by playing the above card and two additional cards as possible moves. The first card I will play as described in part "a", and then the next two I will elicit responses from the students to see their understanding of the directions

c. I anticipate that children will ask (answers are italicized):

What if someone is wrong with a move? Then the other members of the group should politely point that out to the student and allow him or her to self-correct before offering help.

What do we do if we run out of cards? All you need to do is reshuffle and stack your cards. There are enough chips to play for two rounds.

Can we use a scrap piece of paper to calculate? If that helps, certainly.

6. I will give each child a colored piece of paper when he or she walks in. This color is the group for the game, and they will get into those groups right as they walk in to avoid time lost switching in the middle of the lesson. Also, the student who has a sticker on his or her colored piece of paper goes first, and play continues in a clockwise manner. Materials will be distributed by Miss Camburn as I am almost done explaining the game on the overhead, so children wont get distracted by the game at their desks.

7. Plan for observing and monitoring the students:

a. Miss Camburn and I can assist students who may have difficulty. Since the game can be played without any teacher involvement, and there are only four groups, this will leave me free to carefully monitor their playing.

b. I have provided 32 cards, and it should take a while for students to use all of them. If that should happen, I will tell the children to shuffle the cards and continue playing. There are enough chips so that many rounds can be played.

c. I will look to see:

Children can identify the fraction correctly

Children can break down fraction into smaller parts correctly

Children can make a move on the board correctly

Children can use a different denominator fraction than the one on the card drawn.

8. The game will end when there is only three minutes left for my allotted 15 minutes. I will ask the children to place the small items in the baggie and place them on top of the board, and Miss Camburn and I will collect them.

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The Fraction Track Game Rules

Players:

3-4 per game board

The Object of the game:

To bring as many chips as possible to 1, and in the advanced version of the game, to 2.

Preparation

1. Lay the game board on a flat surface.

2. Place one chip on each line, on any fraction less than 3/4.

3. Shuffle the cards and place them face up in a pile.

How to play:

1. The first player draws the first card, and he or she uses that fraction amount to make one or more moves on the board. The moves don’t necessarily have to be on the same denominator track as the card drawn is.

3. The process repeats for subsequent players.

How to score:

When time has run out, the players count their chips to determine the number of goals they made.

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