Write a fraction on the board. Explain as you write that the top number is called the numerator and the bottom number is called the denominator.
Illustrate your fraction in a visual way. For example, consider the fraction 3/5. Place five magnets on your board. Explain that a student has five magnets and has decided to give her friend 3/5 of her magnets as a gift. Draw a circle on the board. Ask a student to come forward and place 3/5 of the magnets in the circle. Assist the student if necessary.
Ask the students to discuss how they may have encountered fractions in every day life. For example, their parents may have required them to share a set of blocks with a sibling so that each person has the same amount of blocks. This would be an example of the fraction 1/2.
Give each student three soft cookies and a plastic knife. Show them how to cut each cookie into fourths. Instruct the students to eat 1/4 of one cookie. Then ask them to eat 2/4 of the next cookie. Discuss how 2/4 also equals 1/2 of the cookie. This is a way to introduce the concept of equivalent fractions. Although you shouldn't dive into this concept right away, this activity can help students to begin thinking in that direction. Ask the students to decide which fractional amount of the third cookie they would like to eat. After eating a fraction of the third cookie, have the students write a sentence about how much of the third cookie they ate.
Give worksheets to your students for additional practice in class or at home. Provide simple pictures in which the students must write the fraction or circle an amount that is equivalent to a fraction. For instance, if you have nine triangles with seven triangles circled together, the students would write 7/9. Another example would be giving the students the fraction 4/5 and having them circle four objects out of a group of five.