Lesson 11

Fractional Side Lengths Greater Than 1

Warm-up: True or False: Thirds (10 minutes)

Narrative

The purpose of this True or False is for students to demonstrate strategies they have for relating division of two whole numbers to multiplication of a fraction by a whole number. The reasoning students use here helps to deepen their understanding of the relationship between multiplication and division. It will also be helpful later when students find the area of rectangles with mixed number side lengths.

Launch

  • Display one equation.
  • “Give me a signal when you know whether the statement is true and can explain how you know.”
  • 1 minute: quiet think time

Activity

  • Share and record answers and strategy.
  • Repeat with each statement.

Student Facing

Decide if each statement is true or false. Be prepared to explain your reasoning.

  • \(10 \div 3 = 10 \times \frac{1}{3}\)
  • \(10 \div 3 = 10 \frac{1}{3}\)
  • \(\frac{10}{3} = 5 \times \frac{2}{3}\)

Student Response

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Activity Synthesis

  • “How can you explain your answer to the last statement without finding the value of both sides?”

Activity 1: Greater Than One (20 minutes)

Narrative

The purpose of this activity is for students to multiply a whole number by a fraction greater than 1 in a way that makes sense to them. Monitor for students who:

  • can explain why the area of the shaded region is \(18 \frac{2}{3}\) or \(16 \frac{8}{3}\) by counting the number of shaded whole square units and then counting the number of shaded third of a square units
  • can explain how to use the expression \(4 \frac{2}{3} \times 4\) to find the area of the shaded region
  • can explain how to use the expression \(\frac{14}{3} \times 4\) to find the area of the shaded region

As students work with fractions greater than 1, they may choose to write or rewrite them as mixed numbers. Students may also relate the expressions to the diagrams in different ways. Encourage them to interpret the diagram and find the area of the shaded region in whatever way makes sense to them. During the synthesis, show the relationships between the different ways of finding and representing the area.

Identifying which expressions represent the area of the rectangle requires careful analysis of the expressions and the figure and the correspondences between them (MP7).

MLR8 Discussion Supports. Display sentence frames to support small-group discussion: “I wonder if . . . ”, “_____ and _____ are the same because. . . .”, and “_____ and _____ are different because . . . .”
Advances: Conversing, Representing

Launch

  • Groups of 2

Activity

  • 1–2 minutes: quiet think time
  • 5 minutes: partner work time
  • As students work, consider asking:
    • “How did you calculate the area of the shaded region?”
    • “How do you know your answer makes sense?”

Student Facing

  1. Find the area of the shaded region in square units. Explain or show your reasoning.

    Area diagram. Length, 4 and 2 thirds. Width, 4. 
  2. Select all the expressions which represent the area of the shaded region in square units. For each correct expression, explain your reasoning.

    1. \(4 \frac{2}{3} \times 4\)
    2. \(16 \times \frac{8}{3}\)
    3. \(\frac{14}{3} \times 4\)
    4. \(\frac{56}{3}\)
    5. \(4 \times \frac{5}{3}\)

Student Response

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Advancing Student Thinking

If students do not interpret the factors as side lengths of rectangles, encourage them to listen to a partner explain where they see the multiplication expression and then describe what their partner says in their own words.

Activity Synthesis

  • Ask selected students to share in the given order.
  • “How does \(\frac{56}{3}\) represent the area of the shaded region?” (There are 56 pieces shaded in and each piece has an area of \(\frac{1}{3}\) of a unit square.)
  • Display: \(4 \frac{2}{3} \times 4= \frac{14}{3} \times 4\)
  • “How do we know these expressions are equal?” (They both represent the shaded area in the diagram or I know that 3, 6, 9, 12 thirds is 4 wholes and then there are two thirds left.)

Activity 2: Diagrams and Expressions for Area (15 minutes)

Narrative

The purpose of this activity is for students to find areas of rectangles where one side is a whole number and the other side is a fraction that is greater than 1.  Students should solve the problems in a way that makes sense to them. Ask students to explain how the diagrams show the multiplication expressions.

Engagement: Provide Access by Recruiting Interest. Synthesis: Optimize meaning and value. Invite students to share how they use the diagram to calculate the area of the desk or the garden and the method they used to do so with a classmate.
Supports accessibility for: Conceptual Processing, Attention

Launch

  • Groups of 2

Activity

  • 5 minutes: individual work time
  • 5 minutes: partner work time

Student Facing

    1. Write a multiplication expression to represent the area of the shaded region.

      Area diagram. Length, 2 and 1 fourth. Width, 2. 
    2. What is the area of the shaded region?
    1. Write a multiplication expression to represent the area of the shaded region.

      Area diagram. Length, 3 and 3 fourths. Width, 3.
    2. What is the area of the shaded region?

Student Response

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Advancing Student Thinking

If students do not write multiplication expressions to represent the area of the shaded region, prompt them to explain how they found the area of the shaded region. Then, write expressions to represent the student’s strategy and ask, “How do these expressions represent your strategy?”

Activity Synthesis

  • Ask several students to share their responses to the second problem.
  • Display:
    • \(3 \times 3\frac{3}{4}\)
    • \(3 \times \frac{15}{4}\)
  • “How do these expressions represent the area of the shaded region?” (They are the width and length of the shaded region. In one, the length is a whole number and some fourths, and in the other, it is all fourths.)
  • “How is finding the value of these two expressions different?” (For the first one, I can multiply 3 by 3 and then 3 by \(\frac{3}{4}\) and add them together. For the second one, I can see how many fourths I have using multiplication.)

Lesson Synthesis

Lesson Synthesis

“Today we learned that we can apply our understanding of multiplication to find the area of a rectangle with a side length that is a fraction greater than 1.”

Display the image.

Area diagram.

Display the expression: \(2 \times 9 \times \frac{1}{4}\)
“How does the diagram represent the expression?” (There are \(2 \times 9\) small pieces and each one has an area of \(\frac{1}{4}\) square unit.)
Display the expression: \(2 \times \frac{9}{4}\)
“How does the diagram represent the expression?” (There are two rows of shaded pieces and each row has area \(\frac{9}{4}\) square units.)
Display the expression: \((2 \times 2) + (2 \times \frac{1}{4})\)
“How does the diagram represent the expression?” (There's a 2 by 2 array of whole square units and then there are 2 shaded pieces each having area \(\frac{1}{4}\) square unit.)

Cool-down: Find the Area (5 minutes)

Cool-Down

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