aidemia--modules-lessonstartideas_type	Give a creative idea how to begin a lesson
Which subject	Mathematics
What age group	Year or Grade 5
What topic	Fractions
Quantity	1
Any other preferences

A Delicious Introduction to Fractions

Objective

Engage students with an interactive and tasty lesson on fractions, using food as a relatable context.

Lesson Starter: The Pizza Party!

Introduction

Imagine that the school is hosting a pizza party! Each class will receive a large pizza to share, but there’s a catch: they must divide it fairly among themselves. Today, we are going to learn about fractions and how they can help us divide our tasty pizzas!

Set the Scene

As the lesson begins, present the class with a large cardboard cutout of a pizza (you can draw one on a whiteboard or show a picture). Make it colourful and appetizing!

Ask the Class:

• "How many of you like pizza?" (encourage hands to go up)
• "If we have one pizza and we want to share it with four friends, what do we need to do?"

Engaging Question

Engage students with a simple question:

• "What part of the pizza will each person get?"

Encourage responses and then guide them towards the idea of fractions by leading them to understand that sharing equally means dividing the pizza into parts.

Visual Representation

Once students express their thoughts, draw a line through the pizza to indicate how it would look when divided into four equal parts. Label each section with fractions:

• 1/4 for each piece.

Activity

To deepen their understanding:

• Group Activity: Split the class into small groups and give each group a different pizza cutout to work with. Assign each group a different number of friends to share their pizza with (e.g., 3 friends, 6 friends).

Have students figure out the fractions of pizza each person would receive and draw their results on the cutout.

Conclusion

Wrap up by reinforcing how fractions allow us to share equally and ensure everyone gets a fair share of delicious pizza.

Remember: "A fraction tells us how many parts of a whole we have — just like each slice of our pizza!"

This engaging start will not only capture students' interest but also create a fun and memorable learning experience, as they connect mathematical concepts to real-life situations.

Next Steps

Now that we have dived into the world of fractions using pizza, let's move on to more fantastic activities that will help us explore fractions even further!