Great Introduction and Review
Kitty Brewer | Houston, TX | 02/23/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is great as an introduction to learning and understanding fractions. It uses items that children can relate to (pizza, candy, etc.)and that they would use in every day life so that they can see the relevance of fractions The music is upbeat and the graphics are excellent. It gives explanations, examples, and graphics for every concept about fractions. It also has questions after each concept to test their understanding of what has been shown. This is also good for a general review of fractions. Every math teacher should have this DVD in their colection."
How to deal with improper fractions (without embarrassment)
Amanda Richards | Georgetown, Guyana | 04/19/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Having practiced multiplication tables with the Rock and Rap DVDs in this series, next in line was fractions, and this DVD explains the basics in an easy to understand format using cartoons, visual aids and music.
The three cartoon characters explain the concepts of numerators and denominators using candy bars, pizza and gummy bears, and sing a song about congruent parts, which I learned are parts of the whole that are the same shape and size.
The DVD also covers equivalent fractions, proper and improper fractions and mixed numerals before shifting over to decimals. In the decimal section, it covers tenths, hundredths and thousandths, converting fractions to decimals, and adding and subtracting with common denominators. It also touches on handling really long conversions like 1/3.
This one is more informative than the multiplication DVDs, and rather than just recitation, there are things to be learned here. The key points are repeated and reinforced, and there is also a section where students can give the answer before the DVD does.
Again, this DVD works best as a back-up learning tool to supplement what the child is doing in school, and the only thing that could be improved is the animation. Rated: 4.5 stars
Amanda Richards, April 18, 2008
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