Fractions - Year 1

[HesSpartacus]

Just wanted to check whether children are expected to cover fractions in Yr 1? It's been a while since my elder two dc's were in year 1... Unlike my other two, dd3 is at a prep school, not a state school, and is really struggling with the concept of anything more than halves. I'm just trying to recall whether it's the work that's difficult for her age or whether it's just my child! (dsis has dyscalculia so I am keeping a firm eye on things). Many thanks!

[G1raffe]

My bright yr 2 girl is currently learning 1/2 = 2/4 etc.

I think last year it was just 1/2 and 1/4 and time.

[motherigloo]

Yes they are :-) here is what we have covered so far!

They should be able to split shapes into halves and quarters.
They should be able to identify 1/4 and 3/4's of a shape.
They should understand 2 halves make a whole and 2 quarters make a half.
They should also begin splitting numbers in half, by using pictures to help them. EG here are ten cakes. Split them in half. This is also the beginnings of division.

Not sure what other fractions but might be covered (if any!) next term as I haven't looked that far ahead.

Hope that helps.

[G1raffe]

Wow our school is a year late then, and my daughter is top set!

[user789653241]

It's in YR1 curriculum.

uk.ixl.com/math/year-1

[motherigloo]

What part does she find tricky? Can she split a simple shape into quarters?

[G1raffe]

Ah they've done division and halving /doubling in yr 1, it's just the 1/2 = 2/4 etc the are doing this year.

[motherigloo]

Giraffe - they are struggling with the equivalent fractions part so far. They could do it practically and they can 'see' it but we are just talking about it really and colouring 2/4 of a shape and they suddenly will go 'oh hey look a half' but they mostly wouldn't know that 1/2 = 2/4 if they saw it written.

That is the sort of thing they will revisit in yr2.

[mrz]

Y1

[ChemicalReaction]

Bloody hell! My dd wouldn't be aw to do that! Sigh. Another thing she will fall behind on ...

[ChemicalReaction]

Able.
I mean she can't even do the vertical abacus sticks on mathletics to make a number!

[motherigloo]

Chemical - don't panic, she's still little. The new expectations can be tough for some children, she won't be the only one.

[G1raffe]

Ah mrz fab. So my school was ok just recognising halves and quarters in yr 1!

[fredfredgeorgejnrsnr]

YR DD came up discussing that "boy she's identified as being a competition academically" didn't know that 3/4's was more than 1/2, so I guess they must've been doing some in YR here?

[HesSpartacus]

Thanks everyone. She can split, say, a circle into four, and she can look at 1/4 and 1/16 written down and say 'that's one whole split into 4 or 16', BUT we're having a problem with the jump to splitting numbers.

For instance, if I draw four dots and say 'what's a quarter of these?', she looks at me like I'm Queen of the Loons. If I say 'split them in half and half again' then she gets that. Argh. She'd probably be a lot happier if she'd been born in Finland and didn't have to bother with this school stuff for another year :)

[hugsarealwaysneededhere1]

See kpi below

[ChemicalReaction]

Fred... That was a quote from your daughter? How on earth does she know and why on earth is she identifying competition academically?

Fuck. Did doesn't even know the words 'identifying' and 'academically'!! :/ and the only 'competition' she had is whether her or her brother can do the most jumps on the trampoline or eat the most m and Ms!

This thread is depressing.

[hugsarealwaysneededhere1]

HesSpartacus she's having a problem moving to numbers because she doesn't understand multiplication and division yet! She's 5 or 6. Your expectations are unreliastic.

[user789653241]

centerforgamescience.org/blog/portfolio/treefrog-treasure/

This game is great for understanding fraction.(Age 4+)

[Broken1Girl]

Yep, they are. Only from memory when I was in Y1 over two three decades ago...I remember the teacher asking who knew what fractions were. Days before, a little friend had fallen and fractured their arm. So I piped up 'When you nearly break something but not quite'. Teacher was

[motherigloo]

Spartacus - he sounds pretty normal to me!

Most of my class would struggle to quarter a number of objects by splitting it in half and half again. That's something some of my higher ability children might grasp.

The link to the y1 curriculum is just halving groups of objects really, relating it back to doubles and understanding that it's similar to halving a shape. I certainly haven't looked at quartering larger groups of objects with myself class.

Don't panic!

If you have him 8 cubes and told him to share them between 4 people I bet he could move them and do that. It's quite a leap to understand that's the same a 1/4.

[louisejxxx]

Ds is in year 1 and is starting to cover this starting this week....He is a whiz at maths but think he may struggle with this one! It can be a bit abstract.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

I agree. Half and half again is a bit of a leap and they wouldn't necessarily be expected to do that in year 1. If she can split a shape into halves and quarters and understands that you are splitting into equal parts, she's almost there.

She just needs practice at splitting a group of objects into the correct number of equal parts and counting how many in each group. If she's already done multiplication and division she might then make the link between finding a fraction and division herself.

Unless you are just going to rote teach her a short cut, half and half again requires an understanding of equivalence between half and two quarters which comes in year 2.