Anyone Else's Kiddo Having Problems with Fractions?

[doubleportion]

We are in Singapore 4A and my dd has been doing Review B in the textbook. She finally seemed to have gotten the concepts back in the spring. Then we took our summer break. Picking back up feels like beating my head against the wall! She doesn't seem to remember any of it: adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators, improper fractions, bringing a fraction down to it's lowest form etc. Should I go back to those sections in 3B and 4A and reteach them all over again? I just feel like sooo many days I get a blank stare after re-explaining something for the millionth time. She gets everything else, but the fractions just seem to be a stumbling block right now. HELP!!!

Edie

[pjdobro]

Edie, I had to chuckle because I feel your pain. I was having some of the same thoughts here the last few days. We're in 4B and having to reduce fractions in order to convert them to decimals and back. I got the blank stares at first too and wondered if I would have to go back and review more. Fortunately after a couple of times through the reducing process, they remembered, but I must say they are slow at it. It took way too long for them to do their workbook assignment today. Fractions and being able to deal with them successfully are pretty crucial to things to come so I think I would either slow down a bit in 4A and make sure that she is getting it or take a few days or a week to go back over the concepts in 3B. Perhaps you could find the reviews of each section on fractions in 3B and choose a few problems in each concept to go over with her then have her work a couple of examples herself. Fractions are a stumbling block to many people and I think having the summer off without having to think about them makes it difficult to jump back into them. Hopefully a little bit of review will refresh her memory.

[Tansy]

A bit of review would ease things along. You know its in there!
Maybe its time to copy a few pages of these things for a bit of summer time "fun"
My one dd has such bad brain drain we do math all summer long.
Every couple of days a couple of problems. Less brain drain in the fall

[Carrie]

Edie,

Great ideas have already been shared in this thread! I agree that fractions are a tough area to pick back up in the middle. You may want to go back and do just one page (going over the visual text examples first) on markerboard a day for each of the main concepts of fractions as a review prior to picking back up where you left off. I wouldn't do all the problems for each area, or multiple days on a same concept, but rather focus mainly on the pictorial examples and do a few problems together on markerboard as a follow-up. In this way, you'd review the main points and help the child visualize each concept one more time before heading back to the spot where you originally were. It also wouldn't slow you down too much and probably pay dividends as you progress.

Blessings,
Carrie