A Snapshot

Of Our Class Room 3G Newsletter

Feb. 19, 2020

Volume 6 | Issue 3

This Week’s Focus:

Technology in Math! Letter from the Teacher:
2/19/2020
Dear Parents & Guardians,
In our fractions unit, we are beginning to learn about
comparing fractions. This unit will help prepare students for
concepts in later grades, such as operations with fractions
and for working with other rational numbers, such as
decimals, proportions, and ratios.

Take a Peak! With this we are introducing two exciting math apps:
The Fractions App and Splash Math. These resources can be
accessed at home on iPads, tablets, or the web. I encourage
you to use them with your child as they are a valuable
resource for students to enhance their conceptual
understanding of fractions through manipulating and
transforming concrete, visual representations. In this
newsletter I will show you how to use these apps at home to
~ NEWSLETTER ~
benefit your child’s learning.
~ CONTENTS ~
Please feel free to contact me with any questions,
Letter from Ms. G • 1
concerns, or comments via email: griffigs@bc.edu. I would
The Fractions App • 2 love to hear from you! Sincerely,
Splash Math • 3 Ms. Griffin

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 Room 3G Newsletter
The Fractions App
Overview
The Fractions App is a great app-based tool
that is flexible in what students can do with it.
The downside is that it requires some pre-
teaching of how to use the app effectively, as
the app does not include directions or
problems to work on. However, it allows
students to access visual representations of
fractions like never before. Using the toolbar
at the bottom of the screen, students can
create visual representations of fractions out
of circles or rectangles, shade parts of their
fraction with various colors, draw on the
screen, and type out equations. They can also
turn on a setting that shows them the
numerical form of the fraction they have
created. This app is especially beneficial for
young students who may have difficulty
drawing representations of fractions with
equal parts, as the app will always split the
circle or rectangle into exact equal parts. This
allows students to focus less on pencil-and-
paper drawings and more on how the visual
representations relate to the math concepts.
Connections to Math Concepts
This app is useful for our current focus on
comparing fractions and our next on creating
equivalent fractions. Because of its flexibility,
this app can also be useful for students’ work
in later grades: operations with fractions &
decimal representations of fractions.
Students can use the app to create concrete,
visual representations of fractions that help
them compare fractions or find equivalent
! !
fractions. The idea that is less than can be
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confusing for students because the dominator
3 is larger than 2 – leading students to believe
! !
that is greater than . However, with a visual
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representation, students can see that because
the dominator is bigger the whole is split into
! !
more parts, making less than . This app
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allows students to grapple with abstract
fraction concepts while supported by concrete
models/visual representations and can be used
exploratorily or for homework.
How to Get Started
1. Download Fractions, by the Math Learning
Center on Apple or Chrome store or go to
apps.mathlearningcenter.org/fractions/
2. Try out making a visual representation of
fractions. If you’re stuck use the picture to the
left or press i on the tool bar.
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 Room 3G Newsletter
Splash Math
Overview
Splash-Math is a web-based learning tool
under the website splashlearn.com. The great
thing about this app is that it works with
students at the level they are at. It is
organized by grade and topic, so students can
use this program throughout elementary
school. As shown in the image below, the app
engages students by having them work
through levels and games.
It is great for parents and teachers because
they can track student’s progress by creating
an account and intervene if necessary. In the
fractions tab, students review foundational
concepts related to fractions that we learned
earlier in our unit, such as what fractions are
and how to represent them. Students go on to
compare fractions and to equivalent
fractions. In later grades the app builds off
this, according to the grade-level standards.
How to Get Started
1. Students can go to splashmath.com and sign
in with their school accounts.
2. Parents can create a splash math account to
keep up on their child’s progress.
3. Apple & Andriod app downloads available for
student and parent apps.
Connections to Math Concepts
Splash math incorporates a variety of
representations to build students’ conceptual
knowledge of fractions. As shown in the
image below the app uses both linear and
area models. Linear models represent
fractions on a number line and are beneficial
for comparing fractions, as students can see
that the closer the fraction is to 1 the larger it
is. For area models, the app uses the basic
circle and square, but also real-life examples
such as pizzas and watermelons. This allows
students to see how fraction concepts come
into play in their daily lives. Area models are
also helpful for comparing fractions but are
especially helpful in identifying and creating
equivalent fractions. Students can use area
models to identify if two fractions are
equivalent by seeing if its shaded parts take
up the same amount of space. They can also
use them to create equivalent fractions by
breaking the area model into even more equal
parts. The app also removes the visual
representations while using game features to
assess if students have linked the concrete
models to abstract concepts.
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