Work Out a Quarter of Amounts by Sharing Equally

In this activity, we will be looking at finding one quarter of a number of objects.

 

We will do this by sharing the objects equally into four groups. 

 

Here we have 12 biscuits shared equally into four groups:

 

 

There are three biscuits in each group. 

So 12 biscuits shared equally into four groups is three. 

 

Here we have 8 cakes:

 

 

 

We need to find one quarter of the cakes. This means they need to be shared equally into four groups. 

 

Equal means that there needs to be the same number of cakes in each group. 

 

So let's share them out.

 

Here is a way to work this out using a pencil and paper. 

 

First, draw yourself a circle and split the circle into four parts, like this:

 

  

 

We are going to share the eight cakes between the four parts. We are going to represent the cakes using a simple line, like this:

I I I I I I I I 

So these eight lines represent the eight cakes. Now, we are going to go around the circle sharing the eight cakes. 

Let's start by sharing four of the cakes, one to go in each section like this, counting them out as we go:

1, 2, 3, 4: 

 

  

 

This shows four of the cakes shared equally between the four parts. 

 

Now we need to continue sharing the rest of the cakes. Count along 5, 6, 7, and 8, while sharing the cakes into each section. 

 

  

 

Here we have shared all eight cakes. They have been shared into four groups and there are two in each group. 

 

As there are two in each group, there are an equal number in each group! 

 

This means that eight cakes shared equally into four groups makes two cakes in each group. 

 

This also means that a quarter of 8 is 2. 

 

Now, grab and pencil and paper, and let's have a go at some questions about sharing objects equally into four groups!

 

Are you ready?