Linking Simple Fractions and Decimals

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1 Getting Started
2 Watch and Notice
3 Try It Together
4 Write the Twins in Your Copy
5 Class Challenge
Pupil practice

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

Illustration for Getting Started We already know one half really well. Here is a strip shaded to one half beside the very same length read as five tenths. So here is our puzzle for today: if we know one half, what would its decimal twin look like — the decimal that names the very same amount, written with a decimal point?

Teacher Notes

Display the two strips side by side as pupils settle. Take two or three hands-up answers to what would one half look like with a decimal point? Don't confirm yet — let the wondering hang until Watch and Notice reveals it.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Watch and Notice ~11 mins

This shows how everyday fractions match decimals. Each fraction is shaded on a strip lined up against a tenths strip, so you can read its decimal straight off the board: one half reaches the same point as 0.5, one fifth as 0.2. Watch where each shaded edge lands.

Teacher Notes

One half: line up the two shaded ends, one half over five tenths. Same length, same amount, so one half is 0.5.

One tenth: a single part of a strip cut in ten, written 0.1, our smallest step. Pause here and take a prediction for three tenths before revealing it.

Three tenths: the key prediction check. Count the three tenth-steps aloud, written 0.3.

One quarter: slow right down, the one conceptual jump. With the tenths strip underneath, point to the quarter's edge and ask, is it on a tenth mark or between two? Let them see it sits between 0.2 and 0.3, just short of 0.3. That is why one decimal place cannot name it and we add a second place, writing it 0.25.

Optional in your own voice: one quarter is twenty-five hundredths, but keep the proof the visible between-two-tenths landing, not an unshown hundred-part model.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Try It Together ~13 mins

We shade these fractions on the board together and say each one's decimal twin: one half, then one tenth, then one quarter. As we shade the tenths strip we will also step it up to three tenths, so we can read off 0.1 and 0.3. Each time, we read off both names — the fraction and the decimal — and check the shaded amount is the same either way. Everyone follows the board and calls out the decimal twin with us.

Shade and name the decimal twin

Teacher Notes

This round is teacher-led at the board — pupils take turns shading and the class agrees or corrects out loud. Everyone else follows on the board and reads the decimal twin aloud; nobody works at their seat here.

Order builds: one half is the anchor everyone knows, the tenths strip carries both one tenth and three tenths, and one quarter is the pause where the between-two-tenths surprise pays off. Ask before the quarter: will this land on a tenth mark?

Watch for pupils who read 0.5 as "five" rather than "five tenths / one half" — revoice each answer with both names.

+15 XP

4 - Write the Twins in Your Copy ~3 mins

COPYBOOK MOMENT

In your maths copy, write each fraction beside its decimal twin, one under the other:

one half = 0.5
one tenth = 0.1
one quarter = 0.25

Then draw a quick bar and shade it to one half to prove it matches 0.5.

Teacher Notes

Walk the room glancing at the shaded bars — check the shading really lands halfway. This is whole-class copybook practice, not marking.

+10 XP

5 - Class Challenge ~9 mins

Today we shade these amounts in order and match each to its decimal: 0.1, then 0.5, then 0.3, and finally 0.25. The last one is the sneaky one, so watch carefully how you shade one quarter before you check it.

Match the decimal to the strip

Teacher Notes

These are the practice questions — pupils take turns at the board, check each answer, and the class confirms before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

The practice set climbs: 0.1 is one step, 0.5 is the known half, 0.3 revisits tenths, and 0.25 is the key one that needs two decimal places. Before they shade, remind them one quarter sits between two tenths, so ask: why is this written with two decimal places? That way the challenge reinforces the reasoning, not just the pattern.

+15 XP

Pupil practice

Module 3 · Fractions and First Decimals Number

Lesson 41 · Linking Simple Fractions and Decimals

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This lesson is copyright of Coding Ireland 2017 - 2025. Unauthorised use, copying or distribution is not allowed.

Teacher Class Feed

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

2 - Watch and Notice ~11 mins

3 - Try It Together ~13 mins

Shade and name the decimal twin

4 - Write the Twins in Your Copy ~3 mins

5 - Class Challenge ~9 mins

Match the decimal to the strip

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