What is a half? - The Complete Series (5 lessons)

Each lesson within this five-lesson planning pack comes with a lesson plan, a fun slideshow for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and a range of colourful printable resources to support children as they start to understand what halves and quarters are.

The first lesson in this series will introduce your class to the concept of a half. They will use mathematical language to talk about what food looks like when it has been cut in half. They will be introduced to the fraction ‘1/2’ and begin to understand what the numbers in the fraction represent.

The second lesson in this series will give your class the opportunity to become confident with the language of half. They will describe and sort shapes that have been divided into two sections. Alternatively, they will have the opportunity to create artwork by printing with halved objects.

The third lesson in this week’s worth of maths planning for Year 1 will introduce your class to the concept of a quarter. Your children will be encouraged to think about what a quarter is in relation to a half. They will begin to understand what the fraction ‘1/4’ is.

Now that your class are becoming confident with the concepts of halving and quartering they will put their skills to the test. Your children will think about and describe the relationship between halves and quarters. They will reinforce their understanding of quarters when they complete picture puzzles.

The final lesson in this series gives your class the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of wholes, halves and quarters. They will follow instructions to make a whole class fruit salad. Then your children will have the opportunity to complete meals for different characters or write instructions explaining a meal of their choice.