Adding Fractions

Objectives

To use visual aids for adding fractions with a common denominator.

Resources

Abacus 4 Textbook 3 | Copier or squared paper | Fraction calculations (MyMaths)

Today's Lesson

Main Activity

For the mental warm up, call out some fractions ‘over 100’ (with 100 as the denominator – that is, they are all hundredths) and ask your student what the decimal equivalent would be.

For example:

Thirty four hundredths or 34/100 = 0.34

Seventy seven hundredths or 77/100 = 0.77

Further to the previous lesson, look at page 80 in Abacus 4 Textbook 3 with your student.

Ask them to explain the facts about the denominators and numerators of the different fractions.

Run through the activities in Section 6 of Fraction calculations (MyMaths) to see how fractions can be added using a number line. Once your student has demonstrated a good understanding, ask them to copy and complete the calculations on the page, using the number lines to help. Tip: When the numerator is bigger than the denominator, this means that the fraction is greater than 1. We call these improper fractions.

Extra Activities

You might like to try the homework activity on the My Portal section of MyMaths to practise this skill further.

MyMaths Homework - Fraction calculations

Citations

[1] app.mymaths.co.uk [2] app.mymaths.co.uk