I made a “Feed the Frog” game to teach children the basic sight words, which make up about 1/3 of all printed material. These words are: a, and, are, as, at, be, for, have, he, his, I, in, is, it, of, on, one, that, the, they, this, to, was, with, & you.
Here’s how I made the frog:
Here’s how I made the bugs:
There are many ways to use this game. My children would pick a bug out of a bag (see image below), say the word, and “feed the frog” the word. If the child did not know the word, another child or an adult could help, or the child could put the word back into the bag until help was available.
It was a lot of fun to watch children play this game. I would pair them up: one child who was struggling with the words, and another who knew all of the words. These teams knew my rules well and knew that they were never allowed to criticize each other. If their partner did not know a word, they would be a team helper and tell the struggling child the word.
Some children made “ribbit” sounds as the frog ate, or made the frog burp after it ate all the bugs. I was okay with that because I knew if the frog was full, the children’s minds were growing and filling up also (burp!).
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I am writing this blog because my son has been frustrated between simplifying fractions and comparing fractions with uncommon denominators.
What is a fraction?
Answer: A fraction is a number that names part of a whole or group.
What is a numerator?
Answer: A numerator is the top number in a fraction: (for example: 1/2)
What is a denominator?
Answer: A denominator is the bottom number in a fraction (for example: 1/2).
How do you add fractions with common denominators?
Answer: Just add the numerators and the denominators stay the same! (for example: 3/6 + 2/6 = 5/6)
How do you subtract fractions with common denominators?
Answer: Just subtract the numerators and the denominators stay the same! (for example: 3/6 – 2/6 = 1/6)
How do you add or subtract fractions with uncommon denominators? (for example: 2/3 + 3/6 = ? or 2/2 – 3/6 = ?)
Answer: Before you can add or subtract fractions with uncommon denominators, you first have to change the fractions so that all fractions being added or subtracted have the same denominator. This can be a little tricky. The Web sites below are awesome:
How do you compare fractions?
Answer: Comparing fractions can be tricky. Check out the Web sites below for great examples and explanations:
How do you simplify or reduce fractions?
Answer: A simplest form of a fraction is a fraction where the only common factor of the numerator and the denominator is 1.
How do you multiply fractions?
Answer: Just multiply the numerators and denominators of the fractions and reduce the answer to its simplest form if needed.
How do you divide fractions?
Answer: Just multiply the numerators and denominators AFTER flipping the second fraction and then reduce to simplest form if needed.
What are equivalent fractions?
Answer: Equivalent fractions are fractions that represent the same number (for example: 1/4 = 3/12).
What are mixed numbers?
Answer: A mixed number is a number that combines whole number and a fraction (for example: 2 5/6).
What are improper fractions?
Answer: An improper fraction is when the numerator is bigger than the denominator; making the number larger than one (for example: 12/3).
No wonder children are confused when it comes to fractions; you get them mixed, have to simplify them, reduce them, and add, subtract, multiply, and divide them…and that’s only the beginning. Yikes!!!!
I’ll cover how to change fractions into decimals and percentages in another blog.
I hope this information helps the children you are teaching as it has for my son.
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