Math Skill/Concept: Adding Fractions with Mixed Numbers (Like Denominators) by drawing pictures that represent concrete materials.
Prerequisite Skills:
Ability to identify concrete representations of fractional parts and wholes.
Ability to add common fractions with like denominators.
Ability to add fractions with mixed numbers using concrete materials.
Learning Objectives:
1) Add fractions with mixed numbers by drawing pictures that represent concrete materials.
2) Use the FASTDRAW Strategy to solve story problems and equations that involve addition of fractions with mixed numbers by drawing solutions.
Important Ideas for Implementation:
1) Teaching students to draw solutions is a very important step for moving from the concrete level of understanding to the abstract level. Multiple practice opportunities with drawing solutions help students to solidify their concrete conceptual understanding of the skill/concept while also helping them build memory for the process/procedure needed to eventually solve problems at the abstract level. Some students will need more drawing practice opportunities than others. Students may periodically need to use drawings to solve problems at the abstract level as a “back-up” strategy.
2) This plan also describes how to teach students to solve story problems involving addition of fractions with mixed numbers by using the FASTDRAW Strategy. Students with learning problems need systematic instruction for solving story problems. Teaching students a strategy for both finding the important information and then setting up and solving an equation to answer the story problem is an essential step. By teaching students to solve story problems, you also provide meaningful contexts for learning the math skill. However, unless students receive explicit instruction in how to solve such problems, story problem solving will become a frustrating barrier for these students rather than an instructional aide.
