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5 outdoor maths lessons for teaching fractions to Year 4

Year 4 - Fractions - Unit 1

Take fractions outdoors with active, imaginative lessons where children use natural resources, role-play, and creative tasks to master improper fractions and mixed numbers. From building towers and making pizzas to running chocolate shops and solving mysteries, these hands-on activities make fractions fun, visual, and unforgettable.

Lesson Plans

Understanding the whole

In this outdoor lesson, children will have a go at using natural resources and chalk to create bar models representing a whole. Have fun outdoors by making tasty pizzas partitioned correctly with the right toppings.

Learning objective:

To understand a whole.

Partitioning mixed numbers

Take this lesson outdoors and get moving by matching images to the mixed number and placing them in the correct area. Your class has been tasked with a very important job of getting the right proportions of chocolate bars ready for the tuck shop – get creative and use mixed numbers accurately with this chocolate bar task.

Learning objective:

To partition mixed numbers.

Understanding improper fractions

This outdoor lesson will provide children with the opportunity to really understand what an improper fraction looks like! Children will be tasked with creating tower buildings in their cities following the correct instruction to represent the improper fraction. 

Learning objective:

To understand improper fractions.

Converting mixed numbers to improper fractions

In this outdoor lesson, the children will get moving and work together to understand the breakdown of steps for changing a mixed number into an improper fraction. At the end of the lesson, set up a chocolate shop to serve both mixed number and improper fraction chocolate bars!

Learning objective:

To convert mixed numbers to improper fractions.

Converting improper fractions to mixed numbers

Take this lesson outdoors and use wonderful natural resources to represent improper fractions. Children will then work in teams to keep active understanding the steps to convert an improper fraction to a mixed number. Have fun solving the mystery of some chocolate bar thieves! 

Learning objective:

To convert improper fractions to mixed numbers.

Before you get started

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