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Fraction Beats

Fractions · Year 2–Year 6

Fill a bar with fractions and read the sum underneath.

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About the fraction beats

The bar is one whole. Tap a fraction in the tray and it is laid into the bar, left to right, and the bar only takes what fits: with a half and a quarter in it, a third is greyed out because there is not room for one. Underneath, the pieces are written out as a sum, so a half plus a quarter plus an eighth reads as seven eighths.

Turn the second bar on and build the same amount two ways. A half in one bar and two quarters in the other come to the same place, and because both bars are the same whole and both start at the left, the two lines up. That is what equivalent fractions means, and it is on the board rather than in a rule.

Press Play and a line sweeps each bar in the time the bar takes, with each piece sounding for as long as it is: a half lasts twice as long as a quarter, which is a fraction fact a class can hear. The sound is a bonus and never the only channel. With the speakers off the line still sweeps, the sums still read and the bars still line up, because a board's speakers may be off, broken, or turned down because the class next door is doing a test.

Halves, thirds, quarters, sixths and eighths, which is every fraction that divides a whole into a whole number of twenty-fourths. There is no whole in the tray on purpose: a piece that fills the entire bar in one tap teaches nothing about parts, and making one out of the parts is the activity.

How to use it on your whiteboard

  1. 1Tap a fraction in the tray and it is laid into the bar. Tap a piece in the bar to take it out again.
  2. 2Read the sum under the bar. It says the pieces and what they come to.
  3. 3Press 2 under Bars for a second bar, then tap a bar to choose which one the tray fills.
  4. 4Press Play to hear the pieces as note lengths, and Sound to turn the noise off without losing the sweep.
  5. 5Tap Fullscreen to fill the board. Empty clears both bars.

Questions

Do a half and two quarters sound the same?
No, and that is worth saying out loud. A half is one long note and two quarters are two shorter ones. What they share is how much of the bar they fill, which is what the two bars lining up shows. The sound is about how long a fraction lasts; the picture is about how much it is.
Does it work with the sound off?
Yes, completely. Press Play with the sound off and the line still sweeps the bar. Everything the tool teaches is in the bars and the sums, because a classroom board's speakers are not something a lesson can depend on.
Why can I not add another piece?
Because it would not fit in the whole. Anything too big for the space left is greyed out in the tray, and the caption says how much is left: a quarter left to fill means a quarter, two eighths, or nothing bigger.
Why is there no whole in the tray?
Because the bar is the whole. A piece that filled it in one tap would teach nothing about parts, and building one out of halves, thirds and eighths is the point of it.