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Primary children are expected to learn to count, add/subtract, and solve simple word problems in mathematics. So why must a focus at this level also include measurement concepts and skills? Obviously, measurement is of great importance in our daily lives. Those who have worked with K-3 students know that measurement topics are not easy for many children to understand. Measurement must be a focus at the primary level because students need a wide variety of conceptual experiences to make sense of what they are learning; this emphasis prepares them for later work in mathematics.

When first introduced to fractions, students in the intermediate grades sometimes struggle to make sense of equivalence and fraction operations. By helping students develop a deep understanding of the role of factors in comparison and fraction operations, we also prepare them for topics that follow and that build upon this knowledge.

Many of the tools used to introduce these early fraction concepts can also be used later to help students recognize the relationships between fractions and ratios, rates, and proportions. Fractions with Prime Factor Tiles is the perfect tool to introduce and explore these concepts.

When I first started visiting elementary school classrooms, I noticed that almost all of them had a hundreds chart somewhere in the room. It might have been a pocket chart, or maybe a poster on the wall, but it was always there as an instructional tool. Then, about ten years ago, the mathematics community agreed that rather than stopping at 100, this chart should go to 120. This change would address students’ struggles with “turning the century,” helping them recognize that the number after 100 is 101 and that counting continues from there.

Helping students build an understanding of fraction concepts is a challenge in the intermediate and middle grades. The pictorial representation is a critical tool for making the connection between the concept and the procedure. Conceptual understanding occurs when students can explain why the procedure works, showing that they have assimilated or integrated this understanding into their basic knowledge of fractions.