Here is a pizza already cut into eight equal slices. If eight people share it fairly, how could you describe the one slice each person gets? There is no wrong answer here, it is just a sharing question, so say it in your own words.

Hands up: have you ever shared a pizza or a cake fairly so everyone got an equal piece? How many pieces did you cut it into?

Look at each pizza on screen, already cut into equal parts with some slices shaded. Notice how many pieces the whole is split into and how many are shaded. Which slices are bigger, and which are smaller?

Now we build fractions together on the board. One pupil comes up to cut the pizza and shade the slices; everyone else reads the fraction aloud and checks that all the pieces are the same size. When a fraction is called, the pupil at the board cuts the pizza into that many equal parts and shades the right number, then we all read it aloud together.

Today we work through these together: show one fifth, then one eighth, then three tenths, then five eighths. The more pieces we cut, the smaller each one is, so check your slices carefully each time.

What we learned today

• One whole cut into 5, 8 or 10 equal parts gives fifths, eighths and tenths.
• The bottom number names how many equal pieces; the top number tells how many we have shaded.
• The more pieces we cut, the smaller each one is.

Coming up

Next we will find fractions like these on a number line, between 0 and 1.