Resources for Teaching Fractions

Throughout my teaching experience, I've always felt that fractions was one of the most difficult things for me to teach.  Maybe it's because learning fractions as a student made me miserable.  Maybe it's because most of my teachers didn't use concrete materials or explain why fractions are important.  Whatever the case, I want to make this unit as fun and practical for students as possible.

I've been pinning quite a bit of resources to help me with this effort, and I'd like to share them with you.  You can browse the entire board on Pinterest by clicking here if you'd like, but I thought I'd share a few of my favs.

Songs.  Songs for teaching anything are awesome!  This is a video about converting mixed numbers to improper fractions.  This tough concept is vital for being able to recognize equivalent fractions.

Candy.  Candy will pretty much motivate any kid to want to do math, no matter how difficult the concept.  Since Valentines Day just happened, you might even have some extra lying around just waiting to be used for such an occasion.

Fraction Strips.  Yes, Fraction Strips.  Those obnoxious things that get torn and misplaced but wait....
Is that a really ingenious solution to all those problems?  Why, yes!  Yes it is!

Put a brade in one end so they're always together.  I also have my students put them in a plastic baggy and staple it to the front of their math notebooks.  No more tearing, no more misplacing them.  Thank you, Pinterest!

Please feel free to add your own ingenious solutions to teaching fractions.  I need all the help I can get!