Simplifying Fractions...oh boy

Nothing mind blowing today.  We went back to school after a 3 week break and spent a lot of time reviewing.   It is amazing how much knowledge can leak out of a brain after 3 weeks of vacation. 

Anyway, we set out to tackle fractions....simplifying fractions to be specific.  I thought I would share with you the little "trick" I use to teach the kids how to do it.  You see, when *I* was in school, the teacher just said to find the number that they both had in common and divide.  If it could be divided again, do it again.  So I was stuck with dividing my fraction by 2/2 several times before it was as reduced as possible (oh yeah, they called it reducing back then too)

Now, I am pretty good at math (which, incidentally, is why I REALLY, REALLY hate teaching math...I was good at it and can't understand why *they* aren't....)  And even with me being pretty good at it, I spent a great deal of time as a youngster trying to find the perfect number that would reduce the fraction down to the simplest form.  It was agonizing.

So as a teacher, in an effort to combat this, I started teaching my students how to simplify like this.

And that is that.  They don't have to do any of the re-simplifying because they didn't guess the GCF wrong.  They just get it right the first time.  It is something that I wish *I* had as student.   So now, when students complete their work, even a boring old practice workbook page, this is what it looks like. (and you all know how I love when the kids show evidence....this just makes my heart happy!)

What little tricks do you teach your students to help them with fractions?