If you teach fractions, chances are you teach them during the long, dreary, and cold winter months. While I’m not a huge fan of winter, I am a fan of using winter-themed fraction activities for my small group center. They bring me joy and provide instant engagement and excitement to the classroom!

Improper Fraction Snow Globe Sort

One of my favorite winter-themed fraction resources is this Improper Fraction Snow Globe Sort. It is hands-on, versatile, engaging, rigorous, and purposeful. I love seeing the look on my student’s faces when they realize they’ll be working with snowflakes and snow globes. They are always curious and anxious to discover what it’s all about! To prepare, simply spread out the improper fraction snowflakes and arrange the mixed number snow globes in order from least to greatest.  

The goal is for students to correctly sort the improper fraction snowflakes into the appropriate snow globes. To do this, they first convert the improper fractions to mixed numbers by either using division, mental math, or decomposing the fraction into wholes and parts. It always makes me proud to see students using more than one method!

Next, students compare the mixed numbers to the ranges labeled on the snow globes. This is where the wheels start turning in their heads! Since many snowflake values are close to more than one snow globe range, students must think carefully about where to place the snowflake. Hearing my students make justifications as to where they place their snowflakes, and the conversations that result gives me valuable feedback. 

Once all 48 snowflakes have been placed in the appropriate snow globes, the sort is complete! Even though students work independently with their snowflakes, it feels like a team effort. Therefore, we celebrate together when finished!

Assessing and Advancing Understanding

There’s no doubt this resource can serve as a great assessment tool. Throughout the activity, I use questioning strategies to assess and advance their understanding of the skill. For instance, if I see a student place a snowflake in the wrong snow globe, I’ll simply ask them to share their reasoning. I can also give students small prompts without revealing the answer to help steer them in the right direction.

In addition, I make sure my struggling students are working with simpler fractions and my advanced students are solving more complex ones. This helps to avoid any potential frustration and allows everyone in the group to feel successful.

For my early finishers, I often take it a step further by challenging them to convert improper fractions to decimals. This is proof that differentiating activities doesn’t have to be time-consuming!

Extensions

Once all snowflakes have been sorted, you can give students one more task to complete. Have them each take eight snowflakes, set up four fraction comparison problems, and write in the correct symbol. This can be their “exit ticket” from your small group table.  

Another extension is to have students place the improper fractions on a number line labeled 0-4. You can easily create this number line by using a dry-erase marker on your table. 

Do yourself (and your students) a favor and try this hands-on, festive, and engaging activity in your classroom. It has been updated to include number lines on the snow globes, making it easier for students to understand. 

Until next time,

Happy Teaching!

P.S. If you love using festive resources with students, read this BLOG POST all about Christmas-themed resources!