Amityville Public School District Math Director Claude Irwin is shown with middle school students Mauricio Rivas, Amaya Perry and Andre Francis during the district’s Fraction Day. Everyone was a fraction at Park Avenue Memorial Elementary School during the Amityville Public School District’s first annual district-wide Fraction Day. Students attended school wearing armbands that identified, not their names, but whether they were equal to one-fourth, a half, or another mathematical fraction, and class lessons were centered around all things fraction. Math Director Claude Irwin explained that the day was designed to allow students in kindergarten through 12th grade to study the mechanics of fractions and become immersed in the concept. “Many students feel anxious when they have to perform a mathematical function with a fraction, and today’s event is intended to reduce that anxiety,” Irwin stated.

Shown in the photo above, Ms. Heyland’s sixth grade class at Park Avenue Memorial Elementary School in the Amityville Public School District wore armbands to identify themselves as fractions during the district’s Fraction Day. Students in kindergarten learned about the concept of a half, while third-graders learned how to position fractions on a number line. At Northwest Elementary School, the students learned about fractions while cutting a pizza pie, which they enjoyed as a reward for their efforts. High school students revisited the A to Z mechanics of fractions during their class time, including their conversion to whole numbers, multiplication and division, and conversion of fractions to decimals.
Shown in photo at right Northwest Elementary School students are shown with first-grade teacher Kristina Kemsic during a lesson on fractions and how it related to the slicing of a pizza pie.