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Math & Movement

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Activity Instructions

How many thirds in five?

Have your student count how many thirds are in 5 by stepping on each third while counting their steps from one to fifteen. If your studentโ€™s counting is out of sync with their steps, have them go back and start over. To help them emphasize each whole number, you can have them hop to the middle box after reaching the fraction that equals a whole. The student hops on 1/3 and says, โ€œone third.โ€ The student hops on 2/3 and says,โ€two thirds.โ€ The student hops on 3/3 and says, โ€œthree thirds equal one wholeโ€ as they hop to the one. Continue with this pattern until they reach five. Knowledge of skip counting helps students understand fractions. If your student knows how to skip count by three, and they can see that there are three thirds in each of the whole numbers, then they can skip count to figure out how many thirds are in the other numbers on the mat. To figure out how many thirds are in three, have your student count 3-6-9. To figure out how many thirds are in five, count 3-6-9-12-15. To figure out how many sixths are in 24, count 6-12-18-24. When students become solid with multiplication, they can multiply to find the number of thirds in any whole number. For example to figure out how many thirds are in 4, they multiply 3 times 4. To figure out how many sixths are in 5, multiply 6 times 5.
Have them do the same activity with sixths once they are comfortable with thirds.


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