Mathematics
Beginner
38 mins
Teacher/Student led
+80 XP
What you need:
IWB/Projector/Large Screen

One Whole, Ten Parts: Introducing Tenths

Explore how ten equal parts make one whole. Shade tenths on strips, count them aloud, and see the connection between fractions and place value.

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    1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

    Imagine one big pizza shared fairly between the ten of us sitting at a table. Everyone gets exactly the same amount, with nothing left over.

    How much of the whole pizza does each person get? And if everyone put their slice back together, how much pizza would we have again?

    2 - Watch and Notice ~8 mins

    Illustration for Watch and NoticeWatch the fraction strips. The top strip is one whole. Underneath it sits a strip cut into ten equal parts, and beside that, a strip cut into two equal parts.

    One whole beside ten tenths

    Look how the ten little parts line up exactly along the one whole strip. Nothing sticks out and there are no gaps. Ten tenths make one whole, just like ten units make one ten.

    One whole beside two halves

    Now compare. The same one whole is split into just two parts this time. Which parts are bigger, the halves or the tenths? Why do you think that is?

    3 - Try It Together ~9 mins

    Today we explore tenths on the strips together. We will shade some tenths and read each one aloud as a fraction. As we shade, watch how close we are getting to one whole strip.

    Shade tenths together

    4 - Sketch the Tenths in Your Copy ~3 mins

    COPYBOOK MOMENT

    In your maths copy, draw a long strip and divide it into ten equal parts. You will sketch and label exactly these two fractions:

    • 3/10
    • 7/10

    For each one, shade the right number of parts out of ten and write the fraction neatly below your strip.

    5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

    Today we work through these together on the strips: shade three tenths, then shade seven tenths, then shade exactly half as a reference point, and finally the tricky one — shade more than half but less than seven tenths.

    Shade the tenths

    6 - What Did We Notice? ~3 mins

    MATHS TALK

    Where else have you seen one whole made up of ten equal parts? Think about money, sport, or things you measure at home.

    7 - What's Next ~3 mins

    What we learned today

    • Ten tenths make one whole, just like ten units make one ten.
    • The bottom number of a fraction tells how many equal parts; the top number tells how many we have.
    • More parts means smaller parts.

    Coming up

    Coming up

    Next we use these same ten parts to read and write our first decimals, like 0.3 and 0.7.

    Pupil practice
    Module 1 · Place Value and the Decimal Number System Number
    Lesson 2 · One Whole, Ten Parts: Introducing Tenths
    Download Activity Book page (PDF)
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