Small Groups
Our sessions are limited to groups of 3 students. The sessions focus on developing shared understandings, strong thinking habits, and computational fluency. The small group size provides each student with the opportunity to fully participate in the work and discussion. Ensuring that students are making meaning and building conceptual understanding is an essential part of our practice. Sessions balance time for working on problems individually with time for collaborating with others. When students explain and show how they solved a problem and then hear and see how their peers solved it in a different way, the learning deepens and connections are made.
Little Sister ate 7/8 of the apple. Big sister ate 10/12 of an apple. Who ate more?
Kevan represented the situation with a number line diagram. He then reasoned that because 1/8 was smaller than 1/6, then 7/8 must be closer to 1 than 5/6 would be. Little Sister ate more than Big Sister.
Allie also created a number line diagram. Using her knowledge of the equivalent fractions, she was able to line up the zeroes, 2/8 & 3/12, 4/8 & 6/12, 6/8 & 9/12, and the wholes. This increased her precision so that she could show 7/8 was greater than 10/12.
After they had each presented their solution, they had a rich discussion about representation, equivalent fractions, and how to use reasoning when comparing fractions. The need to explain their thinking and understand one another deepened Kevan and Allie’s understanding.