A Share of the Spoils

We have been looking at fractions and were very lucky to have Mrs Matthews come in and work with us. We learnt about 1/3 and 1/4. We looked at what they look like and how we can use them when solving problems. We used different materials, like ice block sticks, to help us solve problems about fractions. 

This activity seemed complicated but we worked together to help us solve it. The most difficult part of the problem was finding the amount of treasure that the pirate had in the beginning, so we had to find out what number could work with 1/3 and 1/4, which was 12. We used ice block sticks to help us. 

 

Our Mathematical ExplorationTeam

Welcome to our Saint Joseph's Mathematical Exploration Team. We are a group of year 6 students who will be exploring maths in a range of ways. 

We will be working to develop  Number Sense and Knowledge, where we will develop practical ways to solve mathematical problems; learn to estimate and calculate answers effectively and efficiently; practise and learn times tables and basic facts.  

Mathematical areas that we will be covering in Terms 3 & 4 are measurement, geometry, algebra, included are all four mathematical operations - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; fractions/decimals/percentages.

We have been working very hard and have been doing alot of mathematical exploration. We started with constructing our group rules and expectations. We identified the main things that we need to focus on when working together.

We have been working with Arrays and Fractions as well. We first learnt how to arrange mathematical problems into arrays.These were our WALTS:

• solve multiplication problems by using strategies other than counting all.
• solve multiplication problems using arrays. 

One of the activities we looked at was putting trees into rows and finding out what the multiplication equation was. We then had to add more trees and find out how much trees there were altogether and what new multiplication equation we had. Also we need to find what different multiplication equations we could use but with the same answer. 

One interesting thing we found was that 6X6 is a square number?

How much does the Pirate have?

After solving the problem for 'Sharing the Spoils' we identified that the Pirate had 2 pieces of treasure for himself. The question now was 'What fraction did the pirate have?'  We could see that he had 2 pieces out of 12. So the fraction was 2/12. Then the question was 'Using this could we find other fractions that mean the same thing but look different?' Some of use figured if we double the numbers it would be 4/24 and then if we doubled that it would 8/48.

This was correct, but what if we wanted to find a fraction that was smaller than 2/12 that was the same? This was harder but we used ice block sticks and looked at if we doubled the others than why cant we halve them? We tried it with 2/12 and came up with 1/6, which is the same fraction. We then looked at equivalent fractions and how all of the fractions that we made are all related to 1/6. We then created a pattern.

Here is what we came up with.