🍕 Fraction Strips and Fraction Wall: Compare Fractions

How to use it

1. 1. Look at the wall

   Each bar is one whole cut into equal pieces. Read down the wall to see that the more pieces a whole is cut into, the smaller each piece gets.

2. 2. Shade pieces

   Press pieces to shade them, for example two pieces in the thirds row. Look straight across at the other rows to find fractions that cover the same length.

3. 3. Compare two fractions

   Type the top and bottom number of each fraction and press Compare. Both fractions are drawn as shaded bars, and the tool says which is greater or that they are equal.

4. 4. Print the wall

   Press Print the wall to get the wall on its own, with or without your shading. It is laid out to fit A4 and US Letter paper.

Ideas for class and home

• Equivalent fractions

  Shade 1/2 in the halves row, then ask which pieces in the fourths, sixths and eighths rows reach the same place. Children discover that 2/4, 3/6 and 4/8 equal one half.

• Which is bigger

  Before pressing Compare, ask the class to guess whether 3/5 or 4/7 is greater and why. Then check with the tool, which decides by cross-multiplying and shows the sums.

• Simplest form practice

  Enter 6/8 or 4/12 and read the simplest form beside each bar. Children see that the shaded amount stays the same while the fraction gets simpler.

• A printed reference

  Print the wall for the maths folder or the homeschool desk, so children can check equivalent fractions on paper while they work.