As I sat, enjoying a pepperoni and onion pizza with two friends, we came to a dilemma: there were three hungry individuals and only two pieces of pizza left. This happens often, if you find yourself sharing food with other people. Luckily, we don’t have to think too hard when an 8-piece pizza cannot be evenly distributed between three people. We find a way to split up the remaining two pieces.
Maybe unknowingly, when we share food, we are displaying an understanding of fractions. When I split a cookie with my best friend, it is assumed that we break the cookie in half. Why? Because splitting one whole into two even parts leaves me with 1/2 of the cookie.
When teaching fractions to students, food is a good place to start. I mean, who doesn’t like food?
There are endless word problems involving food. Here are a few:
Daniel and his friends roasted 2/5 of a bag of marshmallows. Daniel’s sister and her friends roasted another 1/5 of the bag of marshmallows. In all, how much of the bag of marshmallows was roasted?
Harold’s family ordered an extra super deluxe supreme pizza. They ate 1/4 of the pizza in the parking lot and another 2/4 in the car on the way home. In all, how much pizza was eaten before they got home?
Abby used 1/5 of a mango in her fruit smoothie. Mac used 1/4 of a mango in his. Who used more mango?
Jesse put toppings on his salad. One fourth (1/4) of his toppings were cherry tomatoes and two eighths (2/8) of his toppings were olives. Did Jesse use more olives or more cherry tomatoes on his salad?
In addition to word problems, there are many hands on activities that can engage students in learning fractions.
Recipes are a great way for students to interact with fractions in a practical way. Students can use these recipes to encourage practicing fractions at home. And cooking is fun!
Pizza Fraction Fun is an activity that allows students to work together in groups to solve equivalent fraction problems with pizza.
You can always come up with your own activities involving your favorite food!
Elementary Math Fun 