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In this activity, we will be finding 1/4 or 1/3 of a set of objects.
1/4 is one quarter
1/3 is one third
Let's have a look at how we can do this.
1. Finding 1/4 of a set of objects.
Here we have 12 pencils:
To find 1/4 of these pencils, the first thing we need to do is split them into equal groups.
We look at the bottom number (the second number) of 1/4 which is 4 - this is how many groups we will be splitting the pencils into.
One way to split pencils into four equal groups is to draw a little picture to help you.
First, draw a circle and split it into four groups:
Now we are going to equally share our 12 pencils between the four groups, counting round as we go.
Here is how we count out the first four:
We have shared the first four equally between the groups, so now count around the next four:
Keep counting around until you have counted out all 12 pencils:
We have now counted out all 12 pencils (each line represents a pencil).
They have been shared equally between four groups.
How many pencils are in each group? There are three.
This means that 1/4 of 12 pencils is three pencils.
1/4 of 12 = 3
Now, let's have a look at finding a third.
2. Finding 1/3 of a set of objects.
Here we have 12 pencils:
To find 1/3 of these pencils, the first thing we need to do is split them into equal groups.
We look at the bottom number (the second number) of 1/3 which is 3 - this is how many groups we will be splitting the pencils into.
One way to split pencils into three equal groups is to draw a little picture to help you.
First, draw a circle and split it into three groups:
It doesn't have to be drawn perfectly because it is just a little sketch to help you work out the answer.
Just as before with finding 1/4, share the 12 pencils into the three groups:
Here we have shared the 12 pencils equally between the three groups. There are four pencils in each group.
This means that 1/3 of 12 pencils is 4 pencils.
1/3 of 12 = 4
Are you ready to tackle some of these questions?
