Halves, quarters and eighths
Connect halves, quarters and eighths through repeated halving of shapes, objects, collections and events (such as half-time in a game or an activity split into equal time parts), and represent eighths
Lesson
Set out your lesson
“Halves, quarters and eighths means practising the idea at the table with counters or paper models and one clear check. We will demo once, then your child tries.”
Bring to the table
- Paper strips or a folded circle
- Pencil and labels (1/2, 1/4)
Extra for the adult
Worked example. Fold a strip in half: each piece is 1/2 of the whole.
Optional challenge. For Halves, quarters and eighths, add one harder example after success.
What to notice. Keep one parent note: examples tried; results; support used. This session samples Halves, quarters and eighths, not mastery.
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Teaching approaches
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1 approach
Halves, quarters and eighths means practising the idea at the table with counters or paper models and one clear check. We will demo once, then your child tries.
Materials: Paper strips or a folded circle; Pencil and labels (1/2, 1/4). Adult folds a strip into halves and labels 1/2. Child makes three fair shares (halves/quarters) and names each piece. Done: three correctly named equal parts. Stop after the fresh check; keep optional challenge for another day.
Family records and proof options
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Practice this concept
Start practiceHalves, quarters and eighths practice
Practice key ideas from Halves, quarters and eighths.
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Learning resources
Extra practice links — they do not replace Gakuva’s teaching approach.
Illustrative Mathematics · Practice link — not the full lesson
Closest to 1/2
Before you open · source notes
Comparing fractions to one half supports halves, quarters, and related unit fractions. Not every unlike-denominator algorithm.
Free, no sign-in. A teacher solution is on the same page, so use the student view with your child.
Before you openAsk which fraction is closest to 1/2 and why.
Opening this link does not save learning or assess mastery.
Source, access and review notes
Public Illustrative Mathematics task page. The .html address responds HTTP 308 to this URL. An anonymous GET of this URL on 2026-11-12 returned HTTP 200 with no login or payment prompt. Where a teacher solution is present, it is on the same page as the student task; this check did not find a separate locked student view. An adult can use the student view section and should not read a solution aloud. Advertising was not observed in the fetched HTML text; that is not a browser, device, or ad-free guarantee. This is a paper or discussion task, not an automatically marked interactive game. Opening the link does not save practice or assess mastery. Diagrams on the page use missing or filename-only alt text, so they are not an accessible image equivalent. Accessibility still depends on an adult describing the picture.
Illustrative Mathematics. “Closest to 1/2.” Licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. External task; Gakuva does not copy, host, embed, or redistribute it.
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — link only
Check understanding
- Fold a paper strip in half, then half again, then half again, and label the halves, quarters and eighths
- Show that 2 eighths of a pizza is the same amount as 1 quarter
- Represent a 16-minute activity as a strip of 8 equal parts, shade one part and say it is one eighth of the activity (2 minutes)
“If your child keeps cutting a sandwich in half, then in half again, and again, can they name the pieces as halves, quarters and then eighths?”
Curriculum record
- Type
- Conceptual
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Domain
- Fractions
- Age range
- Ages 6–9
Standards