Looking for a Christmas themed math center or small group activity for 5th grade? This set of free task cards includes Christmas fraction word problems involving division with whole numbers and unit fractions.
Oh, to be a teacher in December. There’s so much joy and laughter and excitement! Admittedly, all that joy and excitement is probably *not* about math, but it is contagious nonetheless. 😉 So when you find yourself struggling to keep students on task, making sense of math problems in a way that is productive, but hopefully still fun, try weaving in some meaningful context. This set of fraction word problems involves various “Christmas Tasks” that students can probably relate to. As they make sense of each problem, encourage them to draw pictures or models to show what’s happening and help them solve it. And celebrate their effort as they solve challenging problems even though their minds are likely elsewhere!
Fraction Division: Whole Numbers & Unit Fractions
Each word problem in this set involves division with whole numbers and unit fractions.
Rather than telling students that upfront, or requiring that they write a division equation, simply ask them to solve the problems and then ask if their answer “makes sense.”
If they’re stuck, one of my favorite models for these situations is a bar model.
Using a bar model to represent the whole, students can reason through splitting it into parts, determining how many are in each part and then use that information to answer the question.
Once students have an answer, you might look for an equation to fit the situation. Students might write it with division, or they might find the corresponding multiplication equation.
This is a great way to discuss the relationship between multiplication and division and remind students that they form ‘fact families’ even if one of the numbers is a fraction.
You might even write all the equations for the fact family to really help students see the inverse relationship.
How to Use the Christmas Fraction Word Problems:
This download includes 8 half-page task cards and a student recording sheet.
I recommend printing the task cards on card stock paper and laminating for durability.
If you’d like to use these as a math center, you can print one set of task cards to use again and again.
Another idea is to hang each card around the room or lay them on tables around the room and let students rotate to different problems. You would still only need to print one set of task cards. (You may want to give students a clipboard for their recording sheet if they will be moving around the room).
If you’d like to put students into small groups to work together, you’ll want to print a set of task cards for each group.
However you plan to use the task cards, you will then want to print a recording page for each student. This way they have room to draw pictures or models, show their thinking and record their final solution for each word problem.
Once you have the task cards prepped and recording sheets printed, you are all set!
Included in the Christmas Task Cards Download:
- 8 half-page task cards with Christmas-themed fraction division word problems
- Student recording page for work/answers
- Answer key
I hope this is a useful resource as we head into those challenging days before Christmas break!
Love the idea of fun, seasonal activities for your students? This activity is part of the 5th grade Christmas Math bundle inside my membership, Math Geek Mama+.
Inside Math Geek Mama+ you will find dozens of seasonal math activities, puzzles and games, along with hundreds of other resources you can use to help students practice & make sense of math all year long.
LEARN MORE ABOUT MATH GEEK MAMA+ HERE.
Ready to grab the Christmas fraction task cards? Just use the link below to grab them FREE in my shop!
{Click HERE to go to my shop and grab the FREE Christmas Fraction Word Problem Task Card Activity!}
Looking for more Christmas-themed resources for 5th or 6th grade? Try one of these:
