Beginning with Ratios

It's back to school this week, and I am excited to get this year off to a good start with my sixth grade classes. I wanted to start our first unit in Math with ratios. I was surprised to find that most of my students claimed they didn't know the word ratio. I thought it would be a good idea to give them a visual representation that depicts the comparison of two elements. I know it will help them remember the concept better if they see it in action. So, we divided the class - boys on one side and girls on the other. I grabbed my iPad and took a picture to show them how we could compare the picture of the girls versus the picture of the boys. I quickly showed them how to correctly write ratios on paper, but then we spent some time thinking of different pictures we could make that would compare two or more items. It was great to see them so excited about math!

In my last class of the day, we found the ratio of boys to girls to be 8:16. Wow! 

Another great idea by one of my students - "Let's look at the ratio of neon-colored shoes to non-neon-colored shoes!"