Mention the word fractions to many adults and you will get a negative response as it seems to be one of those subjects that children just 'did not get' at school. All the more reason to proceed slowly with this difficult concept. With this in mind this pair of worksheets looks at shading a quarter, third or fifth of various shapes. An important part of this is to understand that a shape needs to be divided into three equal parts for each of those parts to be called a third. So, it becomes easy to shade a third of a shape if it has already been divided into three equal parts. But what happens if it has been divided into six equal parts? Two parts would need to be shaded - a great way to start to explain that two parts out of six is equal to one part out of 3 or 2/6 = 1/3. An interesting investigation can follow from this; how many ways can a third of a shape be shaded if it is divided into six equal parts. Go to Fractions of Shapes (quarters, thirds, fifths)