Visual Plan To Add And Subtract Two Fractions

In lesson 1, the learning objective is that students will be able to use visual models to add and subtract two fractions with the same units. The standard that is addressed in this lesson is 4.NF.3a “Understand a fraction a/b with a > 1 as a sum of fractions 1/b and understand addition and subtraction of joining and separating parts referring to the same whole.” This lesson is the first time students in the fourth grade are introduced to adding and subtracting fractions.

In lesson 2, the learning objective is that students will be able to use visual models to add and subtract two fractions with the same units, including subtracting from one whole. The standard remains the same in this lesson. Both the standard and objective address conceptual understanding. students are required not only to compute mathematical operations but explain their reasoning and justify why using certain visual strategies such as number lines, number bonds and tape diagrams, aid in the computation of problems. When encountering mixed numbers, students may choose to use number bonds to decompose the mixed number into two proper fractions. This requires conceptual understanding that a mixed number is a fraction greater than one and can be decomposed into smaller parts. At the beginning of the lesson, students are building fluency in equivalent

Both learning objectives align with the standard 4.NF.3a that was previously addressed. In this lesson, the addition and subtraction of multiple fractions relate more directly to procedural fluency. Students are able to look at fractions with like denominators and know that when the denominators are the same, they are only finding the sum of the numerator. The number sentences in this lesson explicitly give students the operation to use which addresses computations and