What is on this worksheet
Each bar on this sheet is divided into equal parts with some of them shaded, and the job is to write what fraction is shaded. Reading a fraction off a picture comes before writing one from words, because it makes the bottom number mean something: it is how many pieces the whole was cut into, which is why eighths are smaller than halves even though eight is the bigger number. Bars run from halves through to eighths, so the same shaded amount appears at different denominators across the sheet.
How to use it
Print the sheet and write the fraction each bar shows. Count the shaded parts for the top number and all the parts for the bottom number.
Three ways to practice
Count the bottom number first
Count every part in the bar before counting the shaded ones. Getting the denominator down first stops the most common error on this sheet, which is writing the shaded count in both places.
Say it in words
Read each answer aloud as three out of eight, then as three eighths. Hearing both forms links the notation to the words a child already uses when sharing something out.
Find the one that is a half
Somewhere on the sheet a bar will be shaded exactly halfway using more than two parts. Spotting that two quarters or four eighths is also a half is the first step toward equivalent fractions.
A tip worth knowing
Count the total parts before the shaded ones. Children who count the shaded parts first often forget to count the rest and end up writing three over three when they meant three over eight.
Printing this sheet
Frequently asked questions
Which fractions are on this sheet?
Bars divided into halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths and eighths, with a different number of parts shaded on each. Sevenths are left out because they are hard to see at this size and rarely taught this early.
Why read fractions from a picture instead of writing them from words?
Because the picture makes the bottom number mean something. A child who has counted the parts of a bar understands why eighths are small in a way that being told cannot achieve.
What comes next?
The equivalent fractions worksheet, which takes the idea that two quarters and one half cover the same amount and asks for the missing number in a matching pair.