A Delicious Way to Teach Fractions

A Fun Math Lesson Plan That Uses Hershey's Chocolate Bars

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Believe it or not, teaching fractions can be both educational and delicious. Use The Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar Fractions Book and kids who once crumpled their brows in frustration at the concept of fractions will suddenly salivate at the mere mention of this important math concept. They'll even get to the props - milk chocolate bars!

Not everyone loves math, but surely everyone loves Hershey's Chocolate Bars, which are conveniently divided into 12 equal squares, making them the perfect manipulatives for demonstrating how fractions work.

This witty and kid-friendly book walks you through a straightforward lesson that serves as a fantastic introduction to the world of fractions. It starts off explaining the fraction one-twelfth in relation to one rectangle of chocolate and continues all the way up through one whole Hershey bar.

To do this lesson, first get a Hershey Bar for each child or each small group of up to four students. Tell them not to break apart or eat the bar until you instruct them to do so. Set the rules upfront by telling the children that if they follow your directions and pay attention, then they will be able to enjoy a chocolate bar (or a fraction of one if they are sharing in groups) when the lesson is over.

The book goes on to include addition and subtraction facts and it even throws in a little science for good measure, offering a brief explanation of how milk chocolate is made! Some parts of the book are really funny and clever. Your kids will hardly realize they are learning! But, sure enough, you will see the lightbulbs go on as their eyes sparkle with understanding that they didn't have prior to reading this book.

To close the lesson and to give the children a chance to practice their new knowledge, pass out a short worksheet for them to complete before eating the chocolate bar. The kids can work in small groups to answer the questions. Then, if they are splitting a bar, they have to figure out how many rectangles each child should get in order to split it equally.

Have fun and rest easy as you know that your kids will really be able to visualize fractions after this delicious lesson. A hands-on lesson with scrumptious manipulatives always helps drive a concept home better than a dry, lifeless blackboard lecture. Keep this in mind as you plan future lessons. Dream up new and creative ways to reach your students. It's certainly worth the extra effort!

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Lewis, Beth. "A Delicious Way to Teach Fractions." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/delicious-way-to-teach-fractions-2081114. Lewis, Beth. (2023, April 5). A Delicious Way to Teach Fractions. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/delicious-way-to-teach-fractions-2081114 Lewis, Beth. "A Delicious Way to Teach Fractions." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/delicious-way-to-teach-fractions-2081114 (accessed March 29, 2024).