Fractions, Decimals, and Percents....Oh My!

Sorry I've been a slacker this week....is it just me or did it fly by?
We had a typical week for us.  EMS for a student to transported and not thirty minutes later the Fire Marshalls stroll in to do our Inspection on Monday.  I think I processed twelve referrals on Tuesday.  An evaluation on Wednesday.  Taught a class, PLC meeting, and preping testing tubs on Thursday.  Friday - I got to go to Singapore Training again!!! I was stoked, I've been to a few Singapore trainings, but model drawing is always my fav - and that's what was the focus that day.  I learned something new - using the slide method (very interesting visual manipulation).  Besides going to any math training beats discipline any day! 

So my daughter is a math nerd like her mom.  She watches a short video while I put her hair up before bed....she always requests my favorite brillant young lady....

Lately the request is Hexaflexagons

We made my daughter a hexaflexagon last week and I have a video of her flipping her hexaflexagon too.  Not sure how to upload the video, but I'll try to do that soon. 

Back to Math....
It's that time of year when we focus on fractions - which I LOVE, but the kids...not so much.  I'm not sure why fractions are loathed by so many but I blame parents who tell their children, "I was never good in Math either."  Don't tell your children this....even if it is true.  There is no math gene! 
So...I want my students to make connections with pictorial models and numeric representations.  I also want them to connect the model with the simplified fraction as well.  I made a math tub activity to help reinforce these connections.  Here is an example of one puzzle.

The set includes 41 puzzles.  I purposely did not reduce some fractions so that my students make the connections to the visual representations.  For example, I want them to make the connection that seven tenths and seventy hundredths look alike.  Therefore, not all students may create the same puzzle, yet they both may be right.  I included two variations of the recording sheet....I am a middle school teacher and I know that sometimes my little friends' eyes wonder over to their friend's paper.  Here it is...

So...It's called Puzzling Fraction & Decimal Match Up

Another thing....sorry squirrel moment.  Many folks ask me for my math tub labels.  I purposely don't put math tub one, two, etc.  I use geometric figures.  Just another way to work on that vocabulary without them even knowing.....hehehehehe

You can get them for FREE.  Click here
Time for bed.  Do you think I could close my office tomorrow to get all my testing stuff ready?  Ok...probably not! lol

Shannon