Equivalent Fractions

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1 Getting Started
2 Watch and Notice
3 Try It Together
4 Write the Equivalence Rows in Your Copy
5 Class Challenge
6 What Did We Notice?
7 What's Next
Pupil practice

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

Look at these three pizzas on the board. The first one is cut into 2 slices, and 1 slice is shaded. The second is cut into 4 slices, and 2 slices are shaded. The third is cut into 8 slices, and 4 slices are shaded.

First pizza: 1 of 2 shaded

Second pizza: 2 of 4 shaded

Third pizza: 4 of 8 shaded

Here is the question: do all three pizzas have the same amount shaded? Or is one of them a bigger amount than the others?

Teacher Notes

Show the three pre-shaded pizzas (½, 2/4, 4/8) and take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. Don't confirm or deny yet — let the disagreement sit. The whole lesson lands when pupils see the shaded amounts are identical.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

1/2 = 2/4 = 4/8

Watch the three pizzas line up. Each one has exactly the same amount shaded, even though the slices keep getting smaller and there are more of them. One big half is the same as two quarters, and the same again as four eighths.

1/3 = 2/6 = 4/12

Now watch a third. One slice of three is the same shaded amount as two slices of six, and as four slices of twelve. Here's what links them: we multiply the top and the bottom by the same number each time.

3/4 = 6/8 = 9/12

Three quarters shaded matches six eighths and nine twelfths. Notice the top jumps 3, 6, 9 while the bottom jumps 4, 8, 12 — both stepping up together. The number we times by is called the multiplier: here it is ×2, then ×3.

Teacher Notes

Walk each example one at a time. For 1/2 = 2/4 = 4/8, show the 4/8 pizza and point out the shaded amount is exactly the same as one big half. Ask: 'what did we do to 1 to get 2, and to 2 to get 4?' Draw out that the top and bottom are multiplied by the SAME number.

For 3/4 = 6/8 = 9/12, name the multiplier each step (×2, ×3). The key idea pupils must say back: multiply top and bottom by the same number to keep the same amount.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Try It Together ~8 mins

Today we'll explore equivalent fractions with the pizza tool on the board. Let's start with 1/5 shaded. We want to show the very same amount with more slices. If we cut the pizza into 10 instead of 5, how many slices do we shade to match? Call it out, then a pupil will come up and build 2/10 to check.

Build an equivalent fraction

Teacher Notes

This round is for talking it through together — pupils take turns at the board and the class agrees or corrects out loud.

Start with the 1/5 already shaded and ask the class to find 2/10. Let a pupil come up and slice the pizza into 10 and shade until it matches. Then try 2/3 (find 4/6) and 1/4 (find 3/12). Revoice each: 'we multiplied top and bottom by the same number, so the amount stayed the same.' Watch for the slip where a pupil multiplies only the bottom.

+15 XP

4 - Write the Equivalence Rows in Your Copy ~2 mins

COPYBOOK MOMENT

In your maths copy, write each of today's fractions as a row of equivalents. Write each chain out like this, one row under the other:

1/2 = 2/4 = 4/8
1/3 = 2/6 = 4/12
3/4 = 6/8 = 9/12

Then underline the simplest form on each row — that is the version with the smallest numbers.

Teacher Notes

Walk the room glancing at the chains and the underlining — this is whole-class copybook practice, not marking. The simplest form is the leftmost fraction on each row; check pupils underline it rather than the last one.

+10 XP

5 - Class Challenge ~7 mins

Today we match equivalent fractions. The board names a fraction, and we shade a different number of slices on the pizza on the board to show the very same amount. Each round, the whole class calls out the multiplier together first, then one pupil comes up to build it.

Match the equivalent fraction

Teacher Notes

This round is the practice bank — pupils take turns at the board, check each answer, and the class confirms before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

The targets escalate from 2/4 (easy half) up to 9/12 (the trickiest). For each, have the whole class call out the multiplier first (this is a single spoken class call, not an individual task), then a pupil builds and presses Check. If the Check shows 'not yet', ask the class which part of the chain wobbled.

+15 XP

6 - What Did We Notice? ~2 mins

MATHS TALK

One pupil says: "If I multiply just the top of a fraction by 2, I still get the same amount." Another says: "No — you have to multiply the top AND the bottom by 2." Who is right, and how would you settle it with one of today's pizzas?

Teacher Notes

Listen for pupils reaching for a pizza to test the claim — that is exactly the reasoning move you want. Revoice: 'so multiplying only the top adds shaded slices without adding slices to cut into, which makes a bigger amount, not the same one.' Head off the common error that only the bottom needs doubling.

+10 XP

7 - What's Next ~2 mins

What we learned today

Equivalent fractions name the same amount with different numbers of slices.
To find an equivalent fraction, multiply the top and the bottom by the same number.
The simplest form uses the smallest numbers — like ½ instead of 4/8.

Coming up

Next we will work the other way: starting from a fraction like 4/8 and dividing top and bottom down to its simplest form.

Teacher Notes

Recap by asking one pupil to state the rule in their own words. The next lesson on simplifying fractions is the reverse of today, so flag that the same 'same number, top and bottom' idea will run backward.

+5 XP

Pupil practice

Module 3 · Fractions, Decimals and Percentages Number

Lesson 32 · Equivalent Fractions

Download Activity Book page (PDF)

End of lesson

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Teacher Class Feed

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

First pizza: 1 of 2 shaded

Second pizza: 2 of 4 shaded

Third pizza: 4 of 8 shaded

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

1/2 = 2/4 = 4/8

1/3 = 2/6 = 4/12

3/4 = 6/8 = 9/12

3 - Try It Together ~8 mins

Build an equivalent fraction

4 - Write the Equivalence Rows in Your Copy ~2 mins

5 - Class Challenge ~7 mins

Match the equivalent fraction

6 - What Did We Notice? ~2 mins

7 - What's Next ~2 mins

What we learned today

Coming up

Unlock the full learning experience

XP