Take a moment to think: what is a smart first step, and what does the bottom number of the fraction tell us to do?
Here is a question to warm us up. Three quarters of the class of 20 walk to school. How many pupils is that? Hands up if you have a way to start.
The bars show four fraction problems worked one at a time. Watch how each whole splits into equal parts, and follow the two steps: divide by the bottom, then multiply by the top. The last one turns it around — we know a part and build back to the whole.
Each time we split the whole bar into equal parts, find what one part is worth, then take the parts we need.
Today we work through these together on the ratio bars: 3/4 of 24, then 2/5 of 35, then 5/6 of 48.
We'll say each first step out loud before anyone touches the board: how many parts, and what is one part worth?
In your maths copy, work each of these problems. For every one, show your two steps clearly: first divide by the bottom to find one part, then multiply by the top to find the answer. Box your answer.
Here are today's challenges: 3/4 of 24 sweets, then 2/3 of a €30 voucher, then 5/6 of 48 minutes. Each one splits the whole into equal parts, then takes the parts the fraction asks for. We finish with a stretch: working backwards from the parts to find the whole.
You're previewing this lesson. Get full access to this lesson and hundreds more — each one ready to teach, with interactive activities, printable resources and pupil progress tracking built in.