Fractions for 2nd graders always sounds like a scary topic. Many teachers remember struggling to understand fractions while growing up. And now they have to teach them to their 2nd grade students?

 

 

The good news is that fractions for 2nd graders are just setting the foundation for fractions. Each school year is going to build on the knowledge they learn in 2nd grade.

 

So what are fractions for 2nd graders? Students are only going to work with halves, thirds, and fourths. They are also only going to use circles, rectangles, and squares when working with fractions. Students also need to describe the “whole” of the fraction as two halves, three thirds, and four fourths.

 

So let’s get into how we actually teach fractions for 2nd graders.

 

Fractions for 2nd Graders

 

A fun opener for a lesson is to bring in some baking sheets from home. You can use a cookie sheet and a circle cake pan. First show the cake pan and tell students to pretend you just baked a cake in there and you have a friend that you want to share it with. Ask students what would be a fair way of splitting the cake. Do a similar thing with the cake pan, but say you have 2 friends or 3 friends.

 

Let students know that when we split shapes into equal parts, we make fractions. It’s so important to point out that the parts have to be equal or else they are not fractions.

Then I use display pages to introduce halves, thirds, and fourths. These are like slides that guide me in the examples I show. The first page I show has 3 different sections. One for halves where there are different shapes split in halves. Another section where there are different shapes split in thirds. And another section where there are different shapes split into fourths.

 

 

When setting the foundation for fractions, it is imperative to show lots of examples. From these examples students can see that halves have 2 equal shares. They can see that thirds have 3 equal shares. And they can see that fourths have 4 equal shares.

 

They can also see that it doesn’t have to always be the same shape. We can make these fractions with circles, rectangles, and squares.

 

Then I want students to understand the “whole”. I show another display page. This one shows a circle split into halves. Underneath it tells that each share is a half of the whole and that each whole is two halves.

 

This page also shows a rectangle split into thirds. Underneath it says each share is a third of the whole. Each whole is three thirds.

 

And the page shows a square split into fourths. Underneath it says each share is a fourth of the whole and that each whole is four fourths.

 

We take a few minutes and really discuss these concepts as a class. I point to a part and ask if it is a half, third, or fourth and how students know. Then I ask how many halves, thirds, or fourths we would need to make the whole.

 

Then I want to give students some guided practice of actually splitting or partitioning different shapes into halves, thirds, and fourths.

 

Our next display page has the blank shapes. Students have to tell me how to split a circle, square, and rectangle into halves. Then we do that for thirds and fourths.

 

After that, it’s time to get students their own practice.

 

I do this with fractions for 2nd graders worksheets.

 

Fractions for 2nd Grader Worksheets

 

The first worksheet I give the students gives them a shape and tells them how many equal shares to make with it. Then it asks if they made halves, thirds, or fourths.

 

The next worksheet gives students a shape and tells them how many equal shares to make the fraction and then finish the sentences about the whole. They have to think how many parts make the whole. So for example, if they made halves they would say each whole is two halves.

 

 

The final fractions worksheet I give students has a shape already split into parts. Students have to determine if it shows halves, thirds, or fourths. But to keep students on their toes, some of the shapes don’t show equal parts. So they aren’t fractions! There’s an option for them to indicate that there are not equal shares shown.

Then I want to get students more engaging and hands-on practice so I have them complete a Fractions Scoot Activity. For this activity, I tape different task cards around the classroom. These task cards have shapes partitioned into different fractions. Students go around to the different cards and write on their recording sheet if the shape is showing halves, thirds, or fourths.

 

 

Students love getting out of their seats for this activity. When students finish, I have them correct their work with an answer key I have set out. This gives them immediate feedback.

Then students complete a fun Fractions Sorting Activity. They lay out the headers that say halves, thirds, fourths, and not equal shares. Then students take their different cards and sort them according to which fraction is being shown.

 

 

They have to be careful and look for the ones that are not equal shares. Students love the challenge. When they are finished, I have them raise their hand and I look over their work. I help them fix any mistakes and clear up any misconceptions.

 

And finally, I have students complete an exit ticket. Students rate themselves on how they think they understood the lesson. Then they answer a couple questions. I look over these later and take note of which students could use a little more practice during our math centers time.

 

Sometimes students need a little more support with fractions. So the day after our fractions lesson, as a review, I made an anchor chart on fractions with my students.

 

Fractions 2nd Grade Anchor Chart

 

To make this fractions 2nd grade anchor chart, I like to get an outline made before the lesson. Then as part of our daily math warm-up, students help me fill in the chart. It’s a great review!

 

 

I split the chart into 4 sections. In the middle I make a label of “fractions.” Then I label the 4 parts as halves, thirds, fourths, and not equal parts. I also prepare some fill in the blank sentences about the whole. So, for example, for halves I write “Each share is a _____ of the whole. Each whole is ______ ________. I repeat this with thirds and fourths.

 

Also I include an outline of a circle, a square, and a rectangle in each section. I include 3 sets of these shapes in the “not equal shares” section.

 

Then the chart is ready for students! They help me split the shapes into halves, thirds, and fourths. Students also help me fill in the blanks for the sentences. They love the not equal shares section! Students love to come up with really crazy ways of making 2 parts, 3 parts, and 4 parts of the shapes.

 

Then I can display this fractions 2nd grade anchor chart for students to refer to when needed.

 

And that’s how I teach fractions for 2nd graders. It comes down to showing lots of examples, getting students the practice they need, and making a visual anchor chart. Find all the materials and activities I’ve mentioned in this resource here.

 

These are easy ways to learn fractions. We just start with the basics in second grade. Students focus on halves, thirds, and fourths. We want them to understand that fractions must have equal parts. They also need to know how many of those parts make up the whole for each fraction. 

 

I hope this blog post has been helpful on how to teach basic fractions. I teach fractions after I teach about shapes and their properties. Learn more about how I teach shapes in this blog post here.