Reading at Home with Fractions
~ Renee Goularte

As part of reading at home, I have my students log the time they read in fractional parts of an hour. When they return their logs on Friday, we work as a whole group to add up the total amount of time read. At the beginning of the year, depending on grade level and student ability, we use pictures to add up the parts, categorizing the time as fourths, thirds, or halves of an hour. Eventually, we shift over to using numerical fractions rather than pictures. This is a great way to introduce fraction addition with both like and unlike denominators, as well as mixed numbers. These are the directions students receive on their logs:

- Read fifteen minutes or more every day.
- Log the amount of time you read, in fractions.
Examples:
15 minutes is 1/4 hour -- write "1/4"
30 minutes is 1/2 hour -- write "1/2"
20 minutes is 1/3 hour -- write "1/3"
1 hour is written as "1"
-Thursday homework:
-- add up the number of hours you read
-- write the total in the box
-- Example:
If you read 1/2 hour every night, add
1/2 + 1/2 + 1/2 + 1/2 + 1/2 + 1/2 + 1/2
- Turn in the log on Friday.