Croton-Harmon Sixth-Graders Make Fractions Fun with Peers

From Croton Harmon Schools: Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School’s cafeteria in Croton-on- Hudson was recently filled with country fair games – including a ring toss, pie throwing, potato sack races, mini golf and more.

The annual Fraction Fair, hosted by sixth-grade students, was in full effect, with their parents and fifth-graders enjoying the games and learning about fractions. The students, working independently or in pairs, developed their own games and multiple levels of problems for their peers to solve. Skills taught during the fair included adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions, working with prime and composite numbers among other educational math challenges.

Nicholas and Max challenged fair guests to a beanbag tossing game. “When you get a beanbag in an easier hole, you get a harder question,” said Nicholas. The sixth-graders were inspired by past students’ Fraction Fair games and remembered some of the things they learned at the fair that helped them understand the difficult topic more easily once they entered sixth-grade.

“Students are given a choice about how they can demonstrate their learning,” said PVC Assistant Principal Michael Plotkin. “That’s where the real learning happens because they begin to realize where they are falling short and what they have to do.”

Photo Courtesy of Croton-Harmon Schools