Divide the students into groups of eight. Borrow students from another classroom, if needed. Give each group several sets of objects, each containing eight items. Tell them to divide each set so they share equally with no objects remaining. Ask the students how to represent the number of parts each set was broken into. Tell them they started with one whole set of whatever the objects were in the set, and write “1 set” on the board. Then ask how many parts they divided the set into when they gave one piece to each classmate in their group of eight. Write “8 parts” on the board. Have a student come to the board to write the fraction in proper form, “1/8,” and say, “Each student got one-eighth of the set of objects.” Repeat the process with each set that was given to the students.
Draw a large circle on the board and ask the class how you can divide the circle into eight equal parts. Let one student come to the board to divide the circle in half, another to make it into fourths and a third to make eighths. Explain that they have one thing, the circle, and have divided it into eight parts. Ask a student to come to the board to write the fraction that says how many parts the whole circle was divided into (one-eighth). Repeat the blackboard exercise using a square and a rectangle. Extend the activity to have the students shade in the parts to represent two-eighths, three-eighths and so on.
Take the class outside and give each student a clear plastic cup marked in eighths. Provide a large container of water mixed with food coloring to make it easier to read the proper amounts of water. Tell the students an eighths fraction and have them fill their cups to the appropriate level. They should hold them up for you to check and pour the water back into the container.
Take the class inside. Give each group eight cans or containers of juice or milk, and eight straws. Tell them to divide them evenly among the students in the group and to tell you how many parts of the set of drinks and straws each student received.
Divide the class into groups of four. Give each group eight napkins and tell the students to divide them evenly among the students. Ask how many napkins each student got. Have a student from each group come to the board to write the fraction that represents how many parts of the set of napkins each student received, two-eighths. Give each group an uncut pizza. Ask them how they can divide the pizza into eight parts. Assist each group in cutting their pizza with a pizza cutter. Tell them each student will get two-eighths of the pizza and ask how many pieces of the cut pizza they each will get. Time to eat!