Before You Read

Key Words

Read these words first. You will see them in the story.

divide — to split into equal groups, or to find how many groups fit.

fraction — a part of a whole, like ½ or ¾.

reciprocal — a flipped fraction. The reciprocal of ½ is 2/1 (or 2).

keep–flip–multiply — to divide by a fraction: keep the first, flip the second, then multiply.

scoop / serving — one measured amount, like ¼ cup.

how many fit — division answers "how many small parts fit in a bigger amount."

Part 1 — Counting Scoops

Bita opened the bakery early. The first job: measure flour. She had 4 cups of flour, and each bread batch needs ½ cup. "How many batches can I make?" she wondered. "I need to know how many ½-cups fit in 4 cups."

4 ÷ ½ means "how many halves are in 4?" Keep–flip–multiply: 4 × 2 = 8 batches.

"Dividing by a fraction gives a bigger number," Bita smiled, "because small scoops fit many times."

Check Your Reading — Q1

Why does 4 ÷ ½ give a number bigger than 4?

Solve It — #1

Bita has 3 cups of sugar. Each scoop is ¼ cup. How many scoops can she make? (3 ÷ ¼)

Number of scoops:

Part 2 — Cookies from Dough

Next, Bita had ¾ cup of cookie dough. Each cookie uses ⅛ cup. "How many cookies fit in ¾ cup?" She used keep–flip–multiply.

¾ ÷ ⅛ = ¾ × 8/1 = 24/4 = 6 cookies.

Check Your Reading — Q2

What are the three steps of "keep–flip–multiply"?

Solve It — #2

Bita has ½ cup of frosting. Each cupcake uses ⅙ cup. How many cupcakes can she frost? (½ ÷ ⅙)

Number of cupcakes:

Part 3 — Sharing Fairly

A customer wanted to share ½ of a pie equally among 4 friends. This time Bita divided a fraction by a whole number. "Each friend gets a smaller piece."

½ ÷ 4 = ½ × ¼ = ⅛ of the pie for each friend.

Solve It — #3

⅓ of a cake is shared equally by 2 people. How much cake does each person get? (Write a fraction like 1/6.)

Each person's share:

Part 4 — A Mixed Number

For the last order, Bita had 2½ cups of jam. Each small jar holds ½ cup. First she changed the mixed number to a fraction: 2½ = 5/2.

2½ ÷ ½ = 5/2 ÷ ½ = 5/2 × 2/1 = 10/2 = 5 jars.

Solve It — #4

Bita has 3½ cups of sauce. Each cup of pasta needs ½ cup of sauce. How many servings can she make? (3½ ÷ ½)

Number of servings:

After You Read — Write About It

Explain the Math in the Story

Pick your level. Use the sentence starters to write 2–4 sentences.

Level 1 — Beginner (finish each sentence):

To divide by a fraction, I keep, flip, and ______.
Bita got 8 batches from 4 cups because ______.
When you divide by a fraction smaller than 1, the answer gets ______.

Level 2 — Intermediate (use these to start):

Dividing fractions helped Bita because ______.
One example from the story is ______, which means ______.
I could divide fractions in real life when I ______.

Write your answer here (included when you print or download):

How You Are Scored

Rubric

Category	4 — Strong	3 — Proficient	2 — Developing
Reading comprehension	Both reading questions correct with details	1 correct with some detail	Attempts an answer
Math (Solve It)	All 4 division answers correct (whole÷fraction, fraction÷fraction, fraction÷whole, mixed)	3 correct	2 correct
Writing	Explains dividing fractions using vocabulary (keep–flip–multiply, reciprocal)	Uses some vocabulary; mostly clear	Begins with a starter