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Fractions can be intriguing for students as well as teachers since they are often surrounded by various misconceptions. In such a scenario, it is prominent to teach fractions with many real-world, applicable examples.
As fractions need time and distinct teaching methodologies, certain fun fraction books can be of great help. Reading some of these tales can start some lively discussions and encourage children to identify fractions in everyday life. These books are ideal to assist teachers and parents in teaching fractions to children.
While these books are available online, teachers and parents can also buy soft copies to get access in real-time. Most books on fractions include humorous content and funny quotes to make children understand the concept in a hassle-free manner. Check out these books to create an experiential learning environment for children.
Fraction books with a fun twist
Teachers, parents, and adults constantly find different ways to make math learning easier for children. However, for fractions, Fun books can be an ideal option. You can involve students in the art of listening to stories. Such books have an interesting plot to develop listening skills, and math skills and also enhance concentration building in students.
1. A Fraction’s Goal – Parts of a Whole (Math is CATegorical)
The author Brian P. Cleary is an interesting personality who creates humorous content to teach math. In this book, the author has used creative illustrations and realistic examples to teach the confusing concept of fractions.
Students can get a clear understanding of how a pizza can be divided in various ways to understand fractions. Various recipes and food dishes are used to depict distribution through fractions. The author also introduces the concept of numerator and denominator in the book. Nearly 10 pie charts are used to demonstrate fractions in a visually appealing manner. The book is a combination of cartoon-like characters that inspire children to giggle and sharpen their imagination by learning fractions.
This is a good choice if you are looking for a book that can guide the kids in understanding difficult concepts. The simple language which is used to explain the concept is beneficial to students.
2. Go, Fractions!
This book by Judith Stamper is a fun fraction book with a playful plot. The book surrounds a soccer team and how they prepare and play using fractions. It has a large vocabulary and useful fraction explanations to help students indulge in the concept of fractions by connecting it with the sport.
The concept shows a math teacher who is also the coach of a soccer team. With several illustrations, fractions are explained in a way to achieve victory for the team. While the team focuses on winning, they get half-time breaks where they eat orange slices in different quantities. Most students find it easy because of the language and interesting plot.
Such a book creates a happy environment for children to read, watch, and analyze the math behind fractions. It is a creative book that is also a part of Penguin Young Readers.
3. Wishing Club
Want to learn fractions? Then why not be a part of the wishing club? This is a club where the kids make a wish and get fulfilled. The creative concept and the easy language make this book one of the loved books by parents, teachers, and adults.
The book revolves around the story of children who keep making wishes as they see a comet. Despite their best efforts, each youngster only receives a portion of what they had longed for. In this book, kids start relating their gifts with math. They believe that factions work for gifts and fractions are an important reason why their gifts are modified.
Young readers will remain interested throughout because of this endearing combination of arithmetic and narrative. This is a fun read-aloud book that is sure to create giggles in the room. It is a cozy storytelling type of book combined with practical fraction learning.
4. Jump Kangaroo Jump
Presenting an award-winning series by Stuart J. Murphy who uses the art of storytelling to make the concepts of math easier. The book is a pleasurable experience as it includes the wild Kangaroos making their way through the fields. Kids can instantly feel involved as the story incorporates Kangaroos and their friends who perform various adventurous activities at the camp.
In this book, Kangaroo and his campmates split into different teams at the field into halves, thirds, and forths. These Kangaroos go on their journey by swimming, canoeing, and playing tug-of-war. As the story moves ahead, various concepts of fractions are taught to kids by funny and engaging illustrations. The book includes various charts to summarize calculations and build a smooth learning process.
Parents and teachers can benefit from this book as the arithmetic ideas can be understood well with the inclusion of real-world examples. The book includes math-related activities that adults may conduct with children to apply arithmetic in several life situations.
5. The Lion’s share
Another adorable story that explores the idea of a half and what happens when you keep halving something by Matthew McElligott. Additionally, the book has a storytelling layout leading to a perfect moral for kids to learn something new along with math.
In this book, visually appealing illustrations are used to explain the confusing concept of fractions. An ant is invited to share a meal with the king of the jungle but as the desert arrives, there is hardly anything left to be shared with the king. As the ant decides to bake a cake, the question arises as to how many cakes would be fit for the king.
Now, the entire story revolves around the ant and her decision regarding the quantity of the cake. With this, the author tries to engage the readers in the application of fractions in such real-life scenarios. The book is ideal to make students understand the difference between big and small by using fractions. For example, children learn that ⅛ of a cake is smaller than ¼. Such important lessons can vanish major misconceptions related to fractions.
6. Pigs in the Pantry
Amy Axelrod discusses the fraction involved in cooking in her book Pigs in the Pantry. Although this narrative doesn’t explicitly teach fractions, the book is important to understand fractions. It revolves around many cooking measurements that require fractions. Additionally, high-end graphics attract readers to visually enjoy the book.
The book’s concept is based on the pigs who enter a pantry and then learn fractions. They make quick meals and enjoy it. It focuses on creating a fantastic learning experience to understand the math that goes behind cooking. It is recommended for students who wish to understand real-world cooking and how math plays an important role in it.
The easy-to-understand language, quick facts, and images make this book attractive. Also, kids love the book because of the innovative concept that it covers.
7. Apple Fractions
In Apple Fractions by Jerry Pallotta, fraction addition and a variety of other fractions are covered through appealing images. The author believes in creating a book that supports fun learning without making it extremely perplexing for readers.
In this book, children learn about different fractions applied to different types of apples. Apples are cut into different sizes to explain the concept of fractions. Additionally, the book has a plethora of interesting information about apples, including how they are farmed and utilized.
This is a simple book that has a lot of illustrations. The book uses easy language and short stories to explain the concept in a fun manner. As the author is humorous and believes in real-life learning, the book is a treasure for kids to explore and spot fractions in everyday life.
8. Fractions in Disguise: A Math Adventure
This is an interesting yet secretive book to engage students to boost their fraction learning skills along with detective capabilities. Edward Einhorn, the author, tries to keep dramatic scenarios, crazy plots, and fascinating ways to find the hidden fractions.
The book focuses on simplifying fractions and reducing them to the highest possible level. This way, students learn to reduce fractions to their lowest denominator through the realistic plot of the story. The book offers clearly detailed equations along with their respective fractions. In this book, some fractions are stolen by Dr. Brok and step-by-step instructions are given to find the answer to each problem. Various other characters give a dramatic feel to the book.
Since the book has high-end cartoon graphics, appealing characters, and mind-boggling scenes, the students are likely to take a deep interest in learning. This book helps children forget the fear of fractions and keep finding them in real-life situations.
That’s it for now..
These fraction books are easily accessible and certain interesting parts can also be included as classroom activities for students. Teachers may use this book for experiential learning in the classroom and also ask students to get certain objects or materials for real learning. While fraction books act as a great resource for teaching, teachers and parents can always take help from various other tools including games, activities, worksheets, fraction jokes, training sessions, and other teaching methodologies.
An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’,