Fractions in twelve weeks
The week order from a WWC-reviewed fraction program, over the books, games and sheets already here.
Every session has the same four parts
About 30 minutes, 3 times a week. The shape is the part that was tested, so it does not change from week to week.
| Part | Min | What you do | Why it is in this order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warm-up | 5 | One word problem, read out loud together, before anything new. | It puts the fraction in a situation before it becomes a procedure, and it is short enough that nobody has to be persuaded into it. |
| Explicit instruction | 10 | The method named and shown. Work the first one together, then hand it over. | Named before practised. The strategy box on every book and sheet is this part. |
| Speed game | 5 | Fluency on what was just taught — never on something new. | A game is for getting quicker at something already met. That is why the games sit after the book and not before it. |
| Worksheet | 10 | Independent practice, on paper, with the answer key kept back until afterwards. | Doing the same problems on paper a few days later is worth more than doing twice as many today. |
The 12 weeks
Magnitude and ordering come before equivalence, and equivalence before adding. That order is the unusual part, and it is the part worth copying.
| Week | Focus | Warm-up | Book | Game | Sheet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A fraction is a number, not two numbers Grade 3 book: this is where the measurement interpretation lives, and it is the foundation the rest of the sequence sits on. |
A pizza is cut into 4 equal slices and you eat 1. Say what you ate, using a fraction. | Fraction Number Line pages 1–3 |
Decimal Drop | Fraction Number Line |
| 2 | Naming the unit — how many equal jumps from 0 to 1 Include odd denominators from the start — children over-generalise from halving if you only ever fold in two. |
Three friends share one strip of paper equally. How much does each get? | Fraction Number Line pages 4–6 |
Decimal Drop | Fraction Number Line |
| 3 | Where does it sit? Ordering on 0 to 1 Magnitude BEFORE equivalence. This is the part of the order most materials get the other way round. |
You ran 3/4 of a mile and a friend ran 2/4. Who went further, and how do you know? | Fraction Number Line pages 7–10 |
Decimal Drop | Fraction Number Line (mixed review) |
| 4 | The 1/2 benchmark WWC names benchmark equivalence for 1/2 and 1 as the specific subskill that makes comparing and ordering possible. Tiny item space, large payoff. |
Is 5/8 more or less than half a cake? Say how you decided. | Equivalent Fractions pages 1–3 |
Decimal Drop | Equivalent Fractions |
| 5 | Past 1 — improper fractions and mixed numbers Grade 5 game. Go past 1 deliberately — a child who only ever sees fractions under 1 concludes that is what fractions are. |
You drink 3/4 of a bottle and then another 3/4. Is that more or less than one bottle? | Fraction Number Line pages 11–14 |
Mixed Number Line | Fraction Number Line (mixed review) |
| 6 | Equivalence — different names for the same point Only now, and taught as the same POINT on the line rather than as a rule about multiplying. |
Half a chocolate bar is the same as how many quarters? | Equivalent Fractions pages 4–7 |
Decimal Drop | Equivalent Fractions |
| 7 | Comparing with unlike denominators | Which is bigger, 2/3 or 3/5? Use a benchmark rather than a calculation. | Equivalent Fractions pages 8–11 |
Decimal Drop | Equivalent Fractions (mixed review) |
| 8 | Adding and subtracting with the same denominator Grade 5 book: adding fractions lives there. Weeks 8–9 are where the sequence needs it, so that is where it is used. |
You read 2/8 of a book on Monday and 3/8 on Tuesday. How much have you read? | Fraction Foundry pages 1–4 |
Mixed Number Line | Fraction Foundry |
| 9 | Adding and subtracting with unlike denominators Adding needs a common denominator; comparing did not. Say that difference out loud — it is the commonest confusion here. |
You had 3/4 of a jug and poured out 1/2. How much is left? | Fraction Foundry pages 5–8 |
Mixed Number Line | Fraction Foundry (mixed review) |
| 10 | Tenths and hundredths The bridge into decimals: 3/10 and 30/100 and 0.3 are three names for one point. |
A metre stick is split into 10 equal parts. What fraction of a metre is one part? | Equivalent Fractions pages 12–14 |
Decimal Drop | Equivalent Fractions |
| 11 | Fractions and decimals as the same number Grade 5 book, used lightly — only the tenths and hundredths pages. |
Which is closer to 1: 0.8 or 3/4? | Decimal Place pages 1–4 |
Decimal Drop | Decimal Place |
| 12 | Putting it together Finish on the SSDD sheet: one fraction, four questions, four different methods. Deciding which method a question wants is the thing twelve weeks of practice is for. |
Four friends share 3 pizzas equally. How much does each get? | Equivalent Fractions pages mixed review |
Mixed Number Line | Equivalent Fractions (mixed review) SSDD sheet |
Where this order comes from, and what it does not promise
The four-part session and the week order are taken from Fraction Face-Off! intervention report (WWC, March 2020), a fraction program reviewed by the What Works Clearinghouse with potentially positive effects in all three domains it examined.
That is the program's result, not ours. It was produced with the program's own materials and a trained interventionist. What has been copied here is the sequence and the session shape — nothing about running this plan at home entitles anyone to that number, and the realistic ceiling for a light-touch home product is far smaller. We say so on the about page and we are not going to say anything else here.
Two honest joins: weeks 1–5 use the grade 3 number-line book, because that is where the magnitude work lives, and weeks 8–9 use the grade 5 book, because that is where adding fractions lives. Each week says which.