Fraction – My little Angel has something to say

Today, I intend on writing something different, unlike all my previous blogs. I, being a teacher from Inodai Waldorf School get to spend time with kids more than being on the phone!! Fraction are of Maths curriculum in Grade 4 and I have something interesting than that. Being with them, I get to encounter some learning each and every day.

I teach in Class 4 with Masumi (with whom I work with) and we completed our First Maths Block last month. It focused on Fractions. The whole class had a wonderful time.

One day, I was having a conversation with one of our kids, cheerful and full of life, just grumbled sweetly saying, “I should write an article about how you both made my sandwiches into a Maths Class!” Well, I spontaneously replied, “Please do! I will blog it.” After a few seconds, she realized that I was serious about it. So, without explaining any further, let me just start quoting her blog.

Here it is

‘How my teachers made a delicious treat into a Maths lesson

Well, it all started with my mother’s sandwiches. They are famous in my class even though it consists of chutney and cheese. I get it to school every Wednesday.

So, one Wednesday, since I happened to bring a big box of sandwiches, my teacher called me over and said close to my ears, “Don’t open the box now. Let everyone finish their snacks. I want to do something with it.”. I, on the front, said, “OK” though I wondered why she could be saying that. It was all going beyond me.

After some time, she looked at me from far telling me to get the box from my bag. When I came in the class only to see that she had pulled a table, got a plate and put my box beside it. I was wanting to know more by now. She then finally started to speak… “Now, Nyah has bought 7 sandwiches.” She said this while putting each one of them on the plate. “Each sandwich is cut into 4 parts. So how many parts are there?” One of them answered, “28.”.

Then she asked how many are present in class. Well, there were 21 of us, including me. A few raised their hands saying we can’t have sandwiches as they were avoiding dairy products. “So we have 17 of us who were interested in sandwiches from the 28 equal parts which are present.” I then realized where all this is heading. “You are making this into Fractions.” I said. My teacher quickly replied, “And I am having so much fun doing it.”

It was fun for all but me as I was the one distributing them to the whole class. After distributing, there were 11 left. Now how would they be distributed! I wondered. “If I want to distribute these to all you, then I need to cut it into more equal parts. So, there would be 22 small equal parts. The rest Nyah can have.” Well, that sounded fair. The whole class was enjoying and even called me a ‘Sandwichwali’ which I laughed at. It was so much fun.

I thought it was over after all the fuss. However, my clever friends wanted the foil too. IMAGINE!!! We cut foils into equal parts and I had to distribute that too.

We still discuss this day and wonder how much fun we had. And yes! Fractions are fun.

Nyah Singh’

Well, I feel obliged to share this sweet little “Fraction” blog of hers. Let me know your comments in the comment section below!!!