Lesson 6 Locate Unit Fractions on the Number Line

- Let’s partition the number line to locate unit fractions.

Warm-up Which One Doesn’t Belong: Fraction Details

Which one doesn’t belong?

Activity 1 Partition Fourths

Two students talking.

Three students are partitioning a number line into fourths. Their work is shown.

Clare’s number line:

Number line. Evenly spaced tick marks labeled zero, one, two with unlabeled tick marks in between.

Andre’s number line:

Number line. First tick mark, 0. Last tick mark, 2. Three unlabeled tick marks between 0 and 1.

Diego’s number line:

Number line. Evenly spaced tick marks labeled zero, one, and two, with 4 unlabeled tick marks between 0 and 1.

Whose partitioning makes the most sense to you? Explain your reasoning.

Activity 2 Unit Fractions on the Number Line

Partition each number line. Locate and label each fraction.

Problem 1

$\frac{1}{4}$

Number line. Tick marks labeled zero and one.

Problem 2

$\frac{1}{8}$

Number line. 2 tick marks, 0 and 1.

Problem 3

$\frac{1}{3}$

Number line. 2 tick marks, 0 and 1.

Problem 4

$\frac{1}{6}$

Number line. 2 tick marks, 0 and 1.

Problem 5

$\frac{1}{2}$

Number line. 0 to 4 by ones. Evenly spaced tick marks. First tick mark, 0. Last tick mark, 4.

Problem 6

$\frac{1}{4}$

Number line. Evenly spaced tick marks labeled 0, 1, and 2.

Problem 7

$\frac{1}{8}$

Number line. 0 to 4 by ones. Evenly spaced tick marks. First tick mark, 0. Last tick mark, 4.

Problem 8

$\frac{1}{3}$

Number line. Evenly spaced tick marks labeled 0, 1, 2, 3.

Problem 9

$\frac{1}{6}$

Number line. Evenly spaced tick marks labeled 0, 1, and 2.

Practice Problem

Problem 1

Locate and label $\frac{1}{8}$ on the number line.
Locate and label $\frac{1}{3}$ on the number line.