Lesson 12
Ways to Compare Fractions
Lesson Purpose
The purpose of this lesson is for students to compare fractions in a way that makes sense to them, including by reasoning about the size of fractional parts, common numerators or denominators, or relationships to benchmarks such as \(\frac{1}{2}\) and 1.
Lesson Narrative
Previously, students have investigated the relative sizes of fractions with the same numerator or denominator. They have also compared fractions to \(\frac{1}{2}\) and 1. In this lesson, they apply those understandings to compare a wider range of fractions.
Some students may make comparisons by writing equivalent fractions, which shows they are applying learning from earlier in the unit. It is not necessary to highlight this approach at this point, however. In the next lesson, students will take a closer look at how equivalence can be used to compare fractions.
- Engagement
- MLR8
Activity 1: The Greatest of Them All
Learning Goals
Teacher Facing
- Compare fractions using methods that make sense to them.
Student Facing
- Let’s compare some fractions.
Required Materials
Materials to Gather
Required Preparation
Activity 2:
- Each group of 2 needs 3 colored pencils (3 different colors).
Lesson Timeline
| Warm-up | 10 min |
| Activity 1 | 15 min |
| Activity 2 | 20 min |
| Lesson Synthesis | 10 min |
| Cool-down | 5 min |
Teacher Reflection Questions
Which questions did you ask today that were effective in prompting students to compare the size of fractions strategically or structurally? Which ones might have pushed them toward a particular method or process?
Suggested Centers
- Mystery Number (1–4), Stage 4: Fractions with Denominators 5, 8, 10, 12, 100 (Addressing)
- Compare (1–5), Stage 3: Multiply within 100 (Supporting)