In previous lessons, students partitioned shapes into halves and fourths and identified a “half,” a “fourth,” and a “quarter” of a shape. In this lesson, students build on this work by comparing the sizes of halves and fourths of the same shape. Students explain that for the same shape, a fourth is smaller than a half. In later grades, students will generalize that for any whole, splitting it into more pieces creates smaller size pieces. At this point, they only need to understand the relative size of halves and fourths of the same shape.

This lesson has a Student Section Summary.

When do your students feel successful in math? How do you know?