Many Native nations teach that food from a harvest, a hunt or a catch is shared, so that elders and every family have enough. Families still share wild foods with elders and with households that cannot harvest for themselves. These pages use that idea for fractions: when food is shared fairly, every share is the same size, and a share has a name, like one third. The foods are corn, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, salmon and pans of cornbread.
Five pages of 3rd grade fractions about sharing food fairly. Page 1 shares a harvest equally among families: students ring each family's row, write how many each gets and the fraction one share is. Page 2 sorts pans of cornbread into fair and not fair shares, then has students draw the cuts for 2, 3, 6 and 8 people. Page 3 hands out whole ones, then cuts up the leftovers, so each family gets a whole number and a fraction more. Page 4 compares shares of same-size pans. Page 5 has six word problems. The first problem on each page is a worked example.
Before page 1, ask the class how they would share 12 ears of corn among 3 families so it is fair. Page 3 is the one to talk through: what happens to the 1 squash left over?
Share a snack fairly at home: count it out one at a time, then talk about what to do with what is left.
This pack supports the following Common Core State Standards for Mathematics:
© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.
Fractions from sharing a harvest fairly, a value many Native nations teach, with corn, squash, potatoes and pans of cornbread. Students share food equally among families, cut pans into fair shares, decide what to do with leftovers and compare shares.
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