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Math A round A ll Jennifer Rozines Roy and Gregory Roy Math A round A ll Jennifer Rozines Roy and Gregory Roy 2 Did you know that when we enjoy special days, we are using fractions? A fraction is a part of a whole, as one slice of cake is part of a whole birthday cake. The world is full of fractions. If there were no fractions, we wouldn’t be able to share things! Let’s celebrate holidays throughout the year and share some fraction fun! 3 Trick-or-treat! It’s Halloween and your neighbors have been handing out your favorite chocolate bar. Your best friend gets the last one, but he gives you half. 4 The whole candy bar is broken into two 1 equal pieces. Each piece can be written as — 2 or 1 one-half. Half, or — 2 , is a fraction. And this fraction is delicious! 5 A month after Halloween, families gather around the Thanksgiving table to give thanks for good things. A good thing on this table is dessert— one large pumpkin pie. But you don’t eat the whole pie! There are other people who want some, too. 6 Grandma cuts the pie through the middle, making two pieces. Then another cut makes four pieces. Two more cuts and now we have eight— more than enough for each person. Each piece of pie is 1 called one-eighth, or — 8, which is a fraction. 7 8 Every night of Hanukkah has fraction action. Hanukkah is a Jewish festival in which families light candles each evening on a candleholder called a menorah. There are eight candles—one for each day of the festival—and a “helper” candle used to light them. 9 On the first night of Hanukkah, one out of the nine candles is lit. The helper candle also 2 stays lit, so — 9 of the candles are burning. On the second night, two of the nine candles are lit. With the helper 3 candle, that’s — 9. 10 Each night, one more candle is lit until all nine burn brightly on the last night. 11 Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa Claus is coming to town! It’s time to trim the Christmas tree. There are six boxes of Christmas balls. You get two boxes, your brother gets two boxes, and your sister gets two boxes. Each of you has two 2 out of the six boxes. That’s — 6 each. 12 Now everyone has an equal number of decorations. Fractions helped you to share, and they helped make the Christmas tree pretty! 13 Every night of Kwanzaa, you light one of the seven candles in a candleholder called the kinara. Each candle stands for a family value. 14 In the center is a black candle. What fraction of the whole set of candles is black? One out 1 of seven, — 7 (one-seventh). The fraction that shows how many green 3 candles are lit is — 7 (three-sevenths), or three out of seven. The fraction that shows how many candles are 3 red is — 7. When all the candles are lit, it’s time to tell a story. What a wonderful way to bring the whole family together. 15 Every year on December 31, people around the world celebrate the arrival of a new year. You and your family are ringing in the new year with a party at your house. You have one bag of party hats, with six hats in the bag. 16 What fraction tells how many party hats you’ll 5 be using? Five out of six, or — 6 (five-sixths). 17 A fraction has two parts—the denominator and the numerator. The denominator is the number on the bottom of the fraction, underneath the line. It tells how many parts make up the whole. This bag has six hats, so the denominator is six. The numerator in a fraction is the number above the line. It tells how many pieces are taken from the whole. You used five of the party hats in the bag. 18 numerator 5 denominator 6 19 In February, we make