Monday, September 2: labor day, no class

Due Wednesday, September 4: Read sections 6.1 and 6.3 and do the exercises in these sections. Hand in the following "write to think" assignment: write approximately two pages about what you learned from class on Wednesday, August 28. Concerning the teaching of fractions, what has become clearer for you? what questions or concerns remain for you? This is a checked assignment; it will not be scored for accuracy, but for the extent to which it addresses the questions, and for the care and effort it shows. Write informally; use your writing as a way of thinking about what you have learned, and about what you would still like to learn.

Please note that there is a running list of the topics we are discussing, which you can get to from the bottom of the "assignments and announcements" page.

Due Monday, September 9: Read sections 4.9 - 4.11 and sections 5.5, 5.6.

Due Wednesday, September 11: Hand in the following scored assignment. Suppose you are teaching 5th grade math. The students have learned about fractions, but have not yet learned about fraction multiplication. Write a sequence of 3 (or more) activities/problems that you think would help lay the foundation for and develop your students' thinking on fraction multiplication. Explain why you chose your sequence of problems/activities the way you did, and what you would expect the children to get out of each of them. Some things you might want to consider:

• connecting whole number multiplication to fraction multiplication
• hands-on activities, story problems
• simple situations that might help students work their way toward developing a better understanding later.