Please can anyone help with fractions for KS2 SATS?

[grimblesmother]

I can find plenty of past papers, but I can't track down a resource to help explain how fractions work. We are getting in such a muddle between us, I'm no teacher, that's for sure.

She has to circle equivalent fractions, eg 1/2 and 3/6, and I just don't know how to explain it. She is struggling with fractions generally and I'd really appreciate someone pointing me towards websites/books/whatever.

How old us she?

Tell her the / in fractions means divide. So 1 divided by 2 is the same as 2 divided by 4 is the same as 3 divided by 6 and so on.

Try CGP books, just google them, we use a lot in school for year 6 SATs preparation.

In fact your best way if he is young is to sea a circle for each fraction and divide it in half and colour one half. Then draw a circle and divide it into 4 and colour in 2 quarters and so forth.

She is young and draw a circle!

Sorry for the typos!

Whynnot talk to her teacher? You really shouldn't be doing past papers at home for SATS.

Flipping hell what's wrong with me today. Like cake. Show her that half a cake is the same as two quarters of cake and so on.

Make it visual. If she is struggling surely the teacher knows this and may be able to advise you.

A fraction is a part of a whole (e.g. cake).

If you have 3/6 of a cake you have divided it into 6 equal parts (bottom number) - and you have 3 of them (top number).

If you want to make the fraction smaller, try to find a number you can divde both, the 3 and the 6 by - that would be 3 here.

3:3=1 and 6:3=2

That makes 1/2

I agree Seeker, but DD has asked to practice and her teacher has recommended a site for past papers.

If I'd read my OP a couple of years ago when DS was doing the bloody godforsaken tests I'd have muttered "pushy parent" as I read, but I can't forbid DD from practising if she wants to (although I've considered it )

I think that all of these things are better done with actual, physical things. A cake, or a bar of chocolate, or smarties. Or poker chips. But cake is better!

I'll have nightmares now, I think we had 3 years of cakes and chocolate bars on the board at school.

I understood fractions in the first lesson, after that it just made me hungry.

Seriously OP play with some real cake or at least paper cake or sticks of lego bricks. DD can then put the shapes on next or top of each other and get a real feeling for what it means.

Google BBC education, I'd expect them to have some fraction games.

Buy the book 'Fraction Fun'. It's on Amazon. We love it. Dd is only 5 but she now fully understands fractions.

I just realised that book might be a bit young for your dd, but it's helpful if she is struggling to understand the basics.

To show 1/2=3/6
I would draw a circle, draw a line across and colour in half.
Then by drawing two more lines, equally spaced, through the circle she can see that in multiplying the number a circle is cut into by 3, the number the shaded area is cut into has also increased 3 times.
The circle is now cut into 6, 3 sections are shaded, but the fraction is the same.
Hope this makes sense.

The Schofield and Sim book in fractions is good.

any idea of the title Lottie?

Yeeees..... that is what happens if you post after half a bottle of wine... essential information is left out.

Here we go:
www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Maths-Fractions-Key-Stage/dp/0721709710/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1330764945&sr=8-2

I just introduced equivalent fractions to my year 3 class.

I showed them 'chocolate' bars of the same size. Each bar was divided into a different number of pieces. I got them to work out how many pieces they would need in order to have half the bar.

Then we looked at how the fraction was shown. Most of them had that light bulb moment and realised that the top number is half of the bottom number, ergo a half.

Agree the Schofield Sims book is excellent,wish I had found it when dd was taking SATs. Their decimals book is very good,too.

I like the way the S&S books introduce things very, very gradually so that at first it seems simple and then knowledge is slowly buily up.

Thankyou