Lesson 15
An Assortment of Fractions
Lesson Purpose
Lesson Narrative
In a previous unit, students learned to recognize and generate equivalent fractions. Earlier in this unit, they learned to add and subtract fractions with the same denominator, seeing these operations as joining and separating parts of the same whole. In this lesson, students encounter situations that involve combining and removing fractions with different denominators (limited to 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8), prompting them to rely on their understanding about equivalence to reason about the problems. This work prepares students to use equivalent fractions to join tenths and hundredths in upcoming lessons.
Students are not expected to reason symbolically, or to write fractional expressions with different denominators and then rewrite them with a common denominator. Instead, they reason using their intuitive understanding of equivalence, which they have begun to build since grade 3, and with the support of visual representations as needed.
- Engagement
- MLR1
Activity 2: Stacks of Blocks
Learning Goals
Teacher Facing
- Use equivalence to reason about addition and subtraction problems.
Student Facing
- Let’s find the heights of some stacked objects.
Required Preparation
CCSS Standards
Lesson Timeline
| Warm-up | 10 min |
| Activity 1 | 15 min |
| Activity 2 | 20 min |
| Lesson Synthesis | 10 min |
| Cool-down | 5 min |
Teacher Reflection Questions
Suggested Centers
- Jump the Line (2–5), Stage 2: Add and Subtract Tenths and Hundredths (Addressing)
- Compare (1–5), Stage 6: Add and Subtract Fractions (Addressing)