What Are Equivalent Fractions?

Third Grade Math, ESL

by Caitlin Hardeman February 14, 2019

Get your students to think deeply about fractions as they discuss which pictures show equivalence. Use this as a
stand alone lesson or a pre-lesson for the Equivalent Fractions: Are They Equal? lesson.

Objectives

Objectives

Academic

Students will be able to determine if two fractions are equivalent using visuals.

Language

Students will be able to identify equivalent fractions with key grade level vocabulary using visuals and sentence
frames for support.

Materials and preparation Vocabulary

Teacher copy of the Fractions: What Do You TIER 3

Notice? worksheet
Class set of the Equivalent Fractions: Which equivalent: the same as or equal to something else
One Doesn't Belong? worksheet
Class set of the Frayer Model worksheet fraction: a part of a whole or any number of equal
Teacher copy of the Teach Background parts
Knowledge Template
Teacher copy of the Write Student-Facing
Language Objectives Reference
Teacher set of Vocabulary Cards
Glossary (optional)
Class set of dictionaries and thesauri, or access
to digital versions
Completed Frayer Model for the word fraction
Document camera

Attachments

Graphic Organizer Template: Frayer Model (PDF)

Teach Background Knowledge Template (PDF)
Write Student-Facing Language Objectives Reference (PDF)
Fractions: What Do You Notice? (PDF)
Equivalent Fractions: Which One Doesn’t Belong? (PDF)
Vocabulary Cards:What Are Equivalent Fractions? (PDF)
Glossary: What Are Equivalent Fractions? (PDF)

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Math language routine

Compare and Connect

Introduction (4 minutes)

Display the first page of the Fractions: What Do You Notice? worksheet on the document camera and do a
Think-Pair-Share activity.
Give students about one minute to look at it and think about what they notice about the images, without
providing any prompting regarding equivalent fractions.
Pair students together and instruct them to discuss what they noticed about the images. Then, call on
students to share what they discussed with their partners.
Share the Language Objective for the lesson and tell students that they will be identifying equivalent
fractions in this lesson. They'll use some vocabulary words as they explain what they see in pictures and
drawings.

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling (6 minutes)

Teach the vocabulary words by showing the Vocabulary Cards for equivalent and fraction.
Explain that equivalent means that something is the same or equal to something else. Tell students that
you have half of an orange for lunch. Draw a circle with two equal sides. Shade one side in to represent
the part of the orange that you have. Add that you also brought a half of a sandwich, and draw a
rectangle with two equal sides. Shade one side in to represent the part that you have. Point out that
these pictures are equivalent because they both show 1/2.
Review that 1/2 is a fraction. The fraction shows a part of a whole. The one represents what you have out
of the whole. The two represents how many equal parts are in the whole.
Return to the first page of the Fractions: What Do You Notice? worksheet. Model thinking aloud about the
fractions by using the sentence frame, "These fractions are equivalent because ____." Label the fractions
for each of the pictures.

Guided Practice (10 minutes)

Display the second page of the Fractions: What Do You Notice? worksheet on the document camera.
Engage the class in thinking about similarities and differences and ask, "Which one doesn't belong?"
Prompt learners to think about the following questions:
What value is shown in each picture? (Sentence stem: This picture shows ____.)
What shapes do you see? (Sentence stem: I see ____.)
How are these two pictures similar? How are they different? (Sentence stem: These pictures are
similar/different because ____.)
Which three pictures are most alike? Why? (Sentence stem: These three pictures are most alike
because ____.)
Why doesn't this picture belong with the others? (Sentence stem: This picture doesn't belong with
the others because ____.)
Explain that the square with three equal parts doesn't belong because the rest of the pictures have four
equal parts. It also only has two of the parts shaded in, which makes the fraction 2/3. The other three
pictures have three shaded parts, which makes the fractions 3/4.

Group work time (12 minutes)

Divide the class into four small groups and pass out the Equivalent Fractions: Which One Doesn't Belong?
worksheet to each student.
Assign each group one of the problems on the worksheet to complete. Tell learners that they all need to
be prepared to explain to a different group how they agreed on which pictures belong together and justify
which item did not fit.
Give groups time to work through their problem. Then, create new groups. Make sure each group has a
student that can explain each of the problems on the worksheet. Instruct them to share their thinking and
prompt students as needed with the following questions and sentence stems:

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 What value is shown in each picture? (Sentence stem: This picture shows ____.)
What shapes do you see? (Sentence stem: I see ____.)
How are these two pictures similar? How are they different? (Sentence stem: These pictures are
similar/different because ____.)
Which three pictures are most alike? Why? (Sentence stem: These pictures are most alike because
____.)
Why doesn't this picture belong with the others? (Sentence stem: This picture doesn't belong with
the others because ____.)

Additional EL adaptations

Beginning

Allow access to reference materials in home language (L1).

Have learners repeat instructions and key vocabulary to the teacher.
Provide a word bank of key terms and phrases for students to use in group and class discussions.
Group students intentionally based on academic and language needs.

Advanced

Allow learners to utilize glossaries and dictionaries for unfamiliar words.

Choose advanced ELs to share their ideas first in group and class discussions.
Have learners repeat instructions and key vocabulary, summarizing important information for the class.

Assessment (6 minutes)

Display a completed Frayer Model graphic organizer for the word fraction. Explain the purpose and
sections of the graphic organizer to the class and share how you gathered the information to complete
each section.
Distribute a blank Frayer Model graphic organizer to each student. Instruct them to complete the graphic
organizer with information for the word equivalent.

Review and closing (2 minutes)

Review the information that goes into the Frayer Model for the word equivalent. Have students share and
create a teacher copy to display in the classroom as reference for future lessons.
Remind the class that finding and recognizing equivalent fractions makes it easier for us to problem solve
in many situations in our everyday lives. Share examples of when you have needed to use equivalent
fractions, such as cooking or working with time, and ask students to share examples of their own. Point
out that being able to visualize and explain equivalent fractions is an important foundation to have.

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Name: ______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________________

Frayer Model
Directions: Write your vocabulary word in the “Vocabulary Term” oval. Complete the rest of the
sections for the vocabulary term in your own words.

Definition: Sentence:

Vocabulary Term:

Examples: Non-Examples:

Image Representation:

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 Teach Background Knowledge
Lesson Topic:
Choose a topic from the main content
lesson that will help ELs understand the
main content lesson. Your non-ELs will
already have knowledge about this topic.

Total Lesson Time:

(20 - 30 minutes)

Student-Facing Language
Objective:
Example: I can learn new vocabulary
using pictures and sentence frames.

Student ELP Level(s):

Consider each student’s ELP level and
their academic strengths when choosing
scaffolds for the lesson.

Groupings (pairs, small-groups, a teacher-led group)

Potential Scaffolds:
Choose some of these material supports
and instructional scaffolds based on each
EL’s individual strengths and needs.
Word banks, word wall, and bilingual glossaries
Sentence frames, sentence stems, and paragraph frames
Home language materials
Reduced linguistic load, repetition, rephrasing and modeling
Practice new academic skills with familiar topics

Materials & Resources List

List the materials you’ll use in the lesson.

Key Vocabulary Words (5-8 words)

List the words with student-friendly
definitions in English. Provide
definitions in student’s home language
when appropriate.

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Introduction
Access EL’s prior knowledge about the
lesson topic with a brief comprehension
check.

Potential activities:
Creating captions for images
Opinionnaires
Carousel brainstorming
Conversations with sentence starters
Time estimate for Introduction
(3 - 5 minutes)

Explicit Instruction of
Background Knowledge
Model a learning activity that embeds
the teaching of academic language and
background knowledge.

Potential activities:
Lunch brunch discussion
Teacher-created, adjusted text and
questions
Brief videos or visuals
Text-based instruction
Home-language connections
Pre-teach a small number of
vocabulary words
Show real-world objects
Complete word family or bilingual
glossaries
Word walls or word bank creation

Time Estimate for Explicit Instruction

(4 - 6 minutes)

Guided Practice
Provide an opportunity for students (in
pairs or small groups) to practice the skill
or information taught during Explicit
Instruction, offering appropriate
scaffolds as needed.

Time Estimate for Guided Practice

(5 - 7 minutes)

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 Formative Assessment
Ask students to show comprehension of
new background knowledge and
associated skills through an oral or
written task. Provide appropriate
scaffolds dependent on their ELP level.

Potential assessments:
Act out concepts
Hands on tasks
Drawings, models, or graphs
Graphic organizer completion
Captions of images
Reading response or content
area logs
Retellings
Role plays
Audio or video recordings
Oral interviews

Time estimate for Assessment

(5 - 7 minutes)

Review and Closing

Refer to the student objective and relate
information to future lessons. Allow
students to share thoughts about
whether they reached their objective
and/or mention lingering questions.
Provide sentence stems or frames for their
discussion.

Time estimate for Review and Closing

(3 - 5 minutes)

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 Write Student-Facing Language Objectives
A student-facing language objective: A teacher-facing language objective:
begins with “I can...” begins with “Students will be able to...”
is designed to raise students' self-awareness of and is designed to raise students' self-awareness of and
promote their language development. promote their language development.
incorporates a language function, grammar structure, and incorporates a language function, grammar structure, and
supports or scaffolds. supports or scaffolds.
is easy to understand for students at all levels of is intended to guide the teacher’s lesson planning
English proficiency. and instruction.

Steps to convert a teacher-facing objective to a student-facing objective:

1. Replace “Students will be able to” with “I can.”
2. Simplify challenging words but maintain key vocabulary words you’ll address in the lesson.

Students will be able to describe a character with adjectives using graphic organizers.
Language Grammar Support/
Function Structure Scaffold

I can talk about a character with adjectives using graphic organizers.

Language Grammar Support/
Function Structure Scaffold

Language Functions Grammar Structures Supports/Scaffolds

locate create identify nouns adverbs graphic organizers sentence starters

show describe infer modals academic vocabulary teacher modeling strategic grouping
sort ask questions interpret verb forms adjectives word banks/walls home language supports
tell brainstorm collect conjunctions phrases
contrast classify compare sentence structure prepositions
pronouns complex sentences
comparatives

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games, lessons
© 2018 & more
Education.com LLC Allat education.com/resources
Rights Reserved
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N a me Da te

Fractions: What Do You Notice?

Think about it......
How is each picture similar and different from the other pictures?

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N a me Da te

Fractions: What Do You Notice?

Think about it......
How is each picture similar and different from the other pictures?

Find worksheets, games, lessons & more at education.com/resources

© 2007 - 2019 Education.com
Name Date

Equivalent Fractions: Which One Doesn’t Belong?

Directions: Circle the picture that does not belong with the other three picture. Then,
write an explanation to express why it does not belong.

1.

Explanation/Drawing: The three pictures belong together because

, but the circled picture does not belong because

2.

Explanation/Drawing: The three pictures belong together because

, but the circled picture does not belong because

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Name Date

Equivalent Fractions: Which One Doesn’t Belong?

3.

Explanation/Drawing: The three pictures belong together because

, but the circled picture does not belong because

4.

Explanation/Drawing: The three pictures belong together because

, but the circled picture does not belong because

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equivalent fraction

the same as or equal a part of a whole or any

to something else number of equal parts

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 Word Definition Visual

the same as or equal

equivalent to something else

a part of a whole or any

fraction number of equal parts

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