I came across this problem a few years ago and love using it as a Warm Up. Hoo boy, does it elicit major misconceptions my middle school kids have about fractions. (Edit: These are called number searches. You can find more here!)
![](https://i0.wp.com/hailstonesequence.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2021-03-20-at-12.21.15-AM.png?resize=723%2C287&ssl=1)
My 7th graders really struggled with it at first. I told them the dark blue rectangle was one whole and they just couldn’t wrap their head around it. Thinking of the lime green as a whole was more accessible so we ran with that. I love that it is open-ended and kids can take it to different depths.
It’s the only one I’ve found like it, so I’ve been itching to create my own. I came up with these:
![](https://i0.wp.com/hailstonesequence.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Fraction-Talk-5-01.png?resize=360%2C360&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/hailstonesequence.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Fraction-Talk-8-01.png?resize=401%2C286&ssl=1)
I also created some more traditional fraction talk images, inspired by Nat Banting’s site, fractiontalks.com. He has great tips for implementing and extending fraction talks.
![](https://i0.wp.com/hailstonesequence.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Fraction-Talk-6-01-1.png?resize=288%2C288&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/hailstonesequence.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Fraction-Talk-2-1.png?resize=301%2C301&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/hailstonesequence.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Fraction-Talk-7-01-1.png?resize=290%2C290&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/hailstonesequence.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Fraction-Talk-1-1.png?resize=301%2C301&ssl=1)
I’ve put them all into a google slideshow for easy use. After getting some feedback, I modified them to improve their accessibility for folks with colorblindness.
Wow!