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Photo by Maire Bowler

DMIC Maths Update

Maire Bowler —

On Monday the staff had professional development on our focus for the year; DMIC Maths (Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities).

The topic for the next 5 weeks is Fractions. The big ideas across the Curriculum have a common foundation and are developed across the levels. They are:

● Numbers can be described in many different ways including as fractions.

● The whole is important in naming fractions. A fraction is relative to the size of the whole or unit

.● A comparison of a part to the whole can be represented using a fraction.

● A fraction describes the division of a whole (region, set, segment) into equal parts.

● The bottom number in a fraction tells how many equal parts the whole or unit is divided into. The top number tells how many equal parts are indicated.

Here are some Level Three (Year 5/6) concepts for you to try: 

What other fractions are the same as one third? Record these using at least three different representations(drawings, equations).

Is 3/5 of a chocolate bar the same as 1/2 of a chocolate bar? Why? / Why not?

The picture above shows an example of a warm up activity at the beginning of the lesson. 

The children work in small groups or pairs to able to solve the problems and then are extended during the sharing back part of the lesson. This is facilitated by the teacher. The children also work independently solving problems.