Riley the Raccoon holds up a long paper strip and his lantern.
"Here is a puzzle," he says with a grin.
"Four friends want equal shares of this strip."
"How can we cut it so the shares are fair?"
Bennie the Bear folds the strip in half, then in half again.
"Four equal parts," says Bennie. "Each part is one fourth."
Riley winks. "So each friend gets 1/4 of the strip!"
Cut a whole into 4 equal parts. Each part is 1/4.
We say one fourth.
The 4 on the bottom is the denominator. It counts the equal parts in the whole.
The 1 on top is the numerator. It counts the parts we take.
A fraction with 1 on top is a unit fraction.
This circle has 3 equal parts. One part is 1/3.
| Sentence | True or false? |
|---|---|
| 1/4 means 1 of 4 equal parts. | ? |
| A strip cut into 3 parts of different sizes shows thirds. | ? |
| Two halves make one whole. | ? |
| In 1/6, the denominator is 1. | ? |
Great sharing! Tomorrow we put unit fractions together.