The standards require students to view fractions as divided wholes and as numbers on a number line, as well as to reason about a fraction’s size. There’s no arithmetic with fractions that year.

Fractions, often perceived as daunting, become manageable with the right approach. Addition and subtraction require finding a common denominator, while multiplication involves directly multiplying ...

2. Trust the number line. The number line is a math teacher’s most trusted friend when it comes to fractions and can be used well beyond elementary classrooms.

The same fraction can also be shown as an improper fraction, \ (\frac {5} {2}\). This is worth the same amount as the mixed number, but does not separate between whole numbers and parts.

Miller also said that OMB’s line that the majority of improper payments are not fraudulent is “misleading” because no one actually knows how many payments are fraudulent.

This lesson uses models to convert mixed numbers to improper fractions.