Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mr. Tilstone.

I'm a teacher and I'm very excited today.

Would you like to know why? I'm excited because I get to teach you a math lesson and math is my favourite subject.

And what's more? The lesson is all about fractions.

And fractions is one of my favourite parts about math.

So I'm really looking forward to this lesson.

So if you're ready for the lesson, will you help me count down from five? Are you ready? Five, four, three, two, one.

Let's begin.

The outcome or the target of today's lesson is this.

I can name the fraction one-quarter in relation to a fraction of an object, shape, or set of objects and explain how I know that it is a quarter.

You might have had some very recent experience with halves and you might even be something of a halves expert.

Well, let's see if we can make you into a quarters expert.

That's a different fraction.

And we've got some key words.

If I say it, will you say it back? Are you ready? My turn, quarter, your turn.

And my turn, one-quarter, your turn.

We're going to be meeting those words a lot today.

Our lesson is split into two parts.

The first will be quarter of an object and the second, quarters in different contexts.

So let's start by thinking about quarter of an object.

Are you ready? In this lesson, you're going to meet Sofia and Izzy.

Have you met Sofia and Izzy before? They're here today to give us a helping hand with the math and they're very good at math too.

Sofia and Izzy want to share this cake between themselves and their two friends.

Oh, look at that cake.

That looks yummy.

So they want to share the cake between themselves and their two friends.

How many people is that altogether? So it's Izzy, it's Sofia, and it's two friends.

That's four people.

How could you share a cake between four people? How could you do it fairly? Izzy says, "There are four of us.

We need to divide the cake into four pieces." And Sofia says, "I can carefully cut it into four pieces." Well, let's watch that.

There we go.

Is that in four pieces? Yes it is.

Would you say it's fair sharing? Sofia says, "I cut the cake fairly so that we will all get the same amount." Yes, I would be happy with any of those four pieces of cake.

They all look like they're the same size.

Izzy says, "The whole cake has been divided into four equal parts." When the whole has been divided into four equal parts, each part is called one-quarter.

That's very important learning.

So I'm going to say it again.

Will you read it with me? I'll go very slowly.

Are you ready? When the whole has been divided into four equal parts, each part is called one-quarter.

Do you think you could say that without me? Are you ready? Off you go.

When the whole has been divided into four unequal parts, each part is not one-quarter.

Shall we have a look at an example of that? They're not equal parts, are they? I can see some small parts there and some bigger parts.

I wouldn't be happy with one of the smaller parts.

They're not equal.

That wouldn't be fair sharing.

So this is a bit like halves.

When you cut a shape into halves, it's two equal sized pieces.

When you cut a shape into quarters, it's four equal sized pieces.

So this is not an example of that.

Izzy says, "My part is bigger, so it is not one-quarter." Sofia says, "My part is smaller.

So it is not one-quarter." They have to be equal sized, all of the pieces.

Let's practise saying Sofia's sentence to help remember what one-quarter means.

Are you ready? When the whole has been divided into four equal parts, each part is one-quarter.

One more time.

Ready? Let's go.

When the whole has been divided into four equal parts, each part is one-quarter.

Now this time, I'm going to say it, but I just want you to say the one-quarter bit at the end.

Are you ready? Say it nice and loudly too.

Ready? When the whole has been divided into four equal parts, each part is one-quarter.

You got it.

Sofia says, "Did you know that one-quarter is a fraction?" Just like a half, a quarter is a fraction.

One-quarter is a fraction.

Izzy says, "So a fraction shows that a whole has been divided into equal parts." Sofia says, "That's right.

Well done, Izzy." That's what a fraction is.

A whole divided into equal parts.

In this case, four.

Let's have a check.

Izzy has tried to say Sofia's sentence, but she's forgotten some of the words.

How can you help Izzy to complete the sentence? So let's see.

Let's see how far she's got.

She's remembered these parts.

When the whole has been divided into, hmm, hmm, parts, each part is, hmm.

Well, well done, Izzy, for remembering some of it.

I think we can help you out with the rest.

Pause the video and see if you can help.

Did you manage to complete the sentence? When the whole has been divided into four equal parts, each part is one-quarter.

Izzy and Sofia share some more food.

They are checking if each part is one-quarter or not.

See if you can help.

What do we think? How many equal parts has it been divided into? Are they equal parts? Izzy says, "Do you think it's important to look at the stem, that green part?" And Sofia says, "No, the stem's only a very small part of the tomato." So have a look at the parts.

Would you say there are four equal parts there? Izzy says, "I can see the whole has been divided into four equal parts." And Sofia says, "That means each part is one-quarter." Do you think each part is one-quarter? We'll cut this watermelon and we'll see.

Are you ready? What do you think is each part of this watermelon that's been cut up one-quarter? Hmm.

Izzy says, "I can see the whole has been divided into four parts, but they're four unequal parts.

Izzy says, "That means that each part is not one-quarter." They have to be equal sized.

Do you think each part is one-quarter? Let's have another go.

Ready? What about now, is each part of the watermelon one-quarter? Izzy says, "When it is cut this way, the whole has been divided into four equal parts." Each of those four parts is the same size.

They are equal and that means that each part is one-quarter.

Let's try this lovely, juicy-looking strawberry.

Has that been divided into quarters? Hmm.

They're equal size parts, aren't they? Are they quarters? Izzy says, "I've learned about this before.

Each part is one half, not one-quarter." You knew that, didn't you? You are a halves expert.

Well remembered, Izzy.

"The whole has been divided into two equal parts," says Sofia.

Let's have a look at another one.

Let's check.

Do you think that each part is one-quarter? Are you ready? What do you think? Pause a video and have a discussion.

Izzy says, "The four parts are not equal.

So each part is not one-quarter." So it was divided into four parts, but not four equal parts.

It was four unequal parts so we cannot say their quarters.

Sofia says, "I wonder how you could cut it so that each part is one-quarter." Have you got any ideas? Maybe you could do a quick sketch on your whiteboard.

Can you think of a way to split it into four equal parts? I can think of a few ways and that's one of them.

Now we've got four equal size parts.

The whole has been divided into four equal parts.

So each part is one-quarter.

I wonder if you cut yours a different way.

Hmm.

It's time for some practise.

Take the objects that have been split into quarters.

And looking at that, I can see that some are in four equal parts and some are not.

And Sofia says, "Can you explain to a partner why you didn't tick some of the pictures?" Number two, complete the sentences by writing one-quarter or not one-quarter.

So each part is one-quarter or each part is not one-quarter.

Make sure you spell those words right.

So quarter is just there for you.

Be careful.

And Izzy say, "See if you can find any more objects around you that have been split into quarters." So go on a little hunt around your classroom.

Right here, pause video and off you go.

How did you get on? Are you on your way to becoming a quarters expert? Let's have a look.

Number one, tick the objects that have been split into quarters.

So we're looking for objects that are split into four equal parts.

And now I can see that some of these are equal parts but not four equal parts.

And I can see that some of these are four parts but not four equal parts.

That's four equal parts.

That's four equal parts and that's four equal parts.

"I did not tick the cheese," say Sofia, "because the four parts are not equal, so I know it's not been split into quarters." You can see they've got some small bits and some big bits.

So it's not equal, not quarters.

I did not tick the stick because it's been divided into two equal parts.

So each part is one half, not one-quarter.

And number two, complete the sentences by writing one-quarter or not one-quarter.

Each part is one-quarter, four equal sized pieces.

Each part is one-quarter for that one.

They've been divided into four equal parts.

Each part of the chocolate and the cheese is one-quarter because the whole has been divided into four equal parts.

But you cannot say that about the burger or the cake.

For the burger, each part is not one-quarter.

And for the cake, each part is not one-quarter.

Each part of the burger and the cake is not one-quarter because the parts are not equal.

So they were divided into four parts, but not four equal parts.

Some parts are larger and some parts are smaller.

If you were sharing those out, it wouldn't be fair would it? Whereas, if you were sharing the chocolate out, it would be fair.

And Izzy went on a hunt and she found another example.

Her sandwich in her lunchbox was cut into four equal parts.

Each part was one-quarter.

You are doing really well and you are turning into quite the quarters expert.

Let's carry on.

Now we're looking at quarters in different contexts.

Sofia has been practising finding quarters in lots of different ways and you can see some examples here.

And Sofia says, "I'm an expert at recognising quarters now." Good for you, Sofia.

What about you? Do you think you are an expert? And Izzy says, "That's great.

Maybe you could give me a little help." Izzy's becoming an expert, but she's not quite there yet.

She's not quite where Sofia is.

So she's going to help her out.

When the whole has been divided into four equal parts, each part is one-quarter.

That's our big generalisation for today.

So Izzy's had a go, she says, "Has this shape been split into quarters?" What would you say to Izzy? Sofia says, "No, there are four parts." So well done to Izzy for that.

"But they're not equal." So that's where she needs to improve.

So she's had another go.

What do you think now? She says, "What if I split it this way?" What would you say to Izzy this time? Has she got it? Sofia says, "That's right.

Now each one is one-quarter because the four parts are all equal." They're all the same size.

Sometimes there is more than one way to find one-quarter of a shape.

So you can see one-quarter there shaded in green and here's a different one-quarter for the same shape.

It's the same square.

And instead of being split into four equals size squares, it's been split into four equal sized triangles.

They're all quarters.

And what about this one? This time it's been split into four equal sized rectangles that aren't squares.

And the same with this one, four equal sized rectangles.

Each of them is one-quarter.

So you can split the same shape into quarters, but in different ways.

Sofia says, "Each shape has been divided into four equal parts.

Each shape has one-quarter shaded." Have a look at these examples.

What shape have we got now? It's an eight-sided shape.

It's an octagon.

Izzy says, "I have found three different ways to divide this shape into quarters." Have a look for yourself, see what you notice.

That's what good mathematicians do.

They notice things.

Do you agree? While Sofia says, "Two of these are right, but you've made one mistake." Can you spot which ones are right and which one's not quite right? They're all split into four parts, aren't they? But only two of them are split into four equal sized parts.

Which ones? Oh, it's the middle one, isn't it? Have a look at the middle one.

Two of the parts are bigger and two of the parts are smaller.

So they're not quarters.

But is Izzy's doing what great mathematicians do.

When they make a mistake, they try again.

They try something else.

So let's have a look.

Ah, yes, well done, Izzy.

You've fixed it.

Now all the shapes have been divided into four equal parts.

Well done, Izzy.

Each part is one-quarter.

Let's do a quick check, see how you are doing.

Which of these shapes have been divided into quarters? Pause the video.

Well, I can see that all of these shapes have been divided into four parts, but are they four equal parts? The first one is.

The second one is.

Both of these shapes have been divided into four equal parts.

Each part of these shapes is one-quarter.

However, this shape has been divided into four unequal parts.

Each part is not one-quarter.

Sofia has been practising finding quarters in lots of different ways.

Can you see quarters here? One-quarter of the birds are in each nest.

The whole group of birds has been divided into four equal parts.

So each of those nest is equal size with the same amount of birds.

They're quarters.

What about now? Are these quarters? Are the nests equal? Sofia says, "Now some of the birds have flown into a different nest.

This does not show quarters." No.

How do these cakes show quarters? Hmm.

"One-quarter of the cakes have a cherry," she says.

"Now another cake has been added.

This does not show that one-quarter of the cakes has a cherry." We've got five parts.

Which of these pictures shows quarters? So we've got four different pictures.

Some are cats, some are blocks.

Which ones show quarters? Pause the video and have a go.

Let's have a look.

The whole group of cats has been divided into four equal parts and one-quarter of the cats is walking.

So one-quarter of the cats is stripy.

That's another way that you might have looked at it.

However you look at it, you can see four equals size parts.

This sticker blocks has been divided into four equals size parts.

So each part is one-quarter.

But these don't show quarters because the whole has not been divided into four equal parts.

So as you can see, there are actually five cats there, not four.

And with the blocks that's been split into two parts, not four, and they're not equal.

So two ways that they're not quarters.

And it's time for some final practise.

Find three different ways to show quarters and not quarters of these shapes.

Number two, this part is one-quarter.

What could the whole look like? Draw as many different wholes as you can.

And as Sofia says, "You could use sticky notes to try out your ideas or something similar." Have fun with that.

Pause a video and I'll see you soon and we'll see if you've become a true quarters expert.

How did you get done with that? Are you feeling confident? Let's give you some answers.

Now there's lots of possibilities for this one.

That's one way to divide this shape into quarters, four equal sized parts.

This is another way and this is another way.

There are other ways.

For example, you could use curved lines.

This is not quarters, they're not four equal size parts.

So you might have had something a bit like that.

I can see two small parts and two large parts.

So that's not quarters, and nor is that.

Once again I can see a couple of larger size parts.

And that's not quarters.

It has got four parts, but they're not equal.

So they're not quarters.

You might just split yours in a different way.

For example, two equal size parts or maybe three equals size parts or any different number of equals size parts that aren't four, they're still not quarters.

And let's have a look at some more quarters.

So that's quarters.

Four equals size parts.

Four equals size parts and four equals size parts among many other examples.

What about some not quarters? They're not quarters.

Four parts but not equal.

Four parts but not equal.

Four parts but not equal, so not quarters.

So well done if you've got anything like that.

But I'm sure you've had some of your own examples that are different to that.

So why not share them with the class? To find a quarter of a shape, you always need to divide the whole shape into four equal parts.

This part is one-quarter.

What could the whole look like? Draw as many different wholes as you can.

And you might have done that with sticky notes first.

That's what Sofia did.

So if that's one-quarter, how many other pieces do we need? Three because that would make four quarters.

So that's one example of what it might have looked like, but not the only example.

There's lots.

So you could have drawn something like that.

But what's about that? That's still showing quarters.

It's still got four equal size parts.

It's a different example.

What about this? A different example again.

Four equal size parts.

The four sticky notes could be in any arrangement whatsoever.

The whole has still been divided into four equal parts.

We've come to the end of the lesson and I've had so much fun today.

I hope you have too.

Today, we've been recognising and naming the fraction one-quarter.

So I'm sure before this lesson, you knew a lot about halves and now you know about quarters too.

When the whole has been divided into four equal parts, each part is one-quarter of the whole.

You can find quarters of objects, shapes, and sets of objects.

And here are lots of different examples.

So my last question to you is this, are you a quarters expert? Give me a thumbs up if you are.

Very well done.

You've been amazing today.

I hope you have a lovely day, whatever you've got coming up and I hope you really successful just like you were in today's math lesson and I hope you work really hard just like you did in today's math lesson.

Until next time, take care and goodbye.