Close to a Half: The Kite Festival

At the Kite Festival, every kite has a long tail of bows. Some tails are almost all coloured, some hardly coloured at all. 0, 1/2 and 1 are the landmarks that tell you if a fraction is tiny, about half, or nearly a whole.

Remember: Half of the bottom number is the halfway point. In 5/8, half of 8 is 4, and 5 is more than 4, so 5/8 is more than 1/2. When the top number is close to the bottom number, the fraction is close to 1; when the top number is close to 0, the fraction is close to 0.

Magic trick: Ask “what is half of the bottom number?” If the top number is bigger, the fraction is more than 1/2. If it’s smaller, the fraction is less than 1/2.