LYRICS:

It was my mother’s birthday,
A day that can’t be beat,
We had a chocolate cake,
with frosting that was sweet…
My mother frowned a frown,
A serious reaction,
“I can’t eat an entire slice,
I only want a fraction…”
She felt really full,
She’d eaten so much stuff,
½ plus ¼
Would really be enough…
she said ½ plus ¼
Would really be enough…”

I had to add some fractions,
I was caught off guard,
I’d never added fractions,
It was really hard,
Should I make a list?
Could I use a graph?
I needed help to add, one quarter to one half!
I needed help to add, one quarter to one half!

Adding fractions? There’s a catch,
You gotta make the denominators match!
Quarters with quarters and halves with halves,
Fifths with fifths! Denominators match,
Matching your fractions like thirds with thirds,
You can‘t add elephants to blue birds!

I added straight across,
I think I got it right,
2/6 is what I got,
my brother said, “Not quite!”
No no, no no,no no no!
That’s not the way, adding fractions gotta’ go!

You need a common, denomin, denominator,
Common, denomin, denominator
Don’t go adding different things,
Like adding queens to kings,
Like adding french fries to onion rings!
You need a common, denomin, denominator,
Common, denomin, denominator

I thought about it hard,
And then I had to say,
 ½ is  2/4
That will work OK.
two quarters and one more,
That just equals three,
Denominators match?
Adding’s easy…
I quickly gave my mother,
 ¾ of a slice,
She thanked me 20 times,
Said I cut it really nice
Feeling, smart, and proud,
Emotional reactions,
And then I told my mom,
I was only adding fractions!

Halves and quarters are different things,
You can’t add french fries to onion rings,
Adding straight across, things’ll turn out bad,
match denominators before you add!
Match denominators before you add…

LESSON
When adding ½ of a slice of cake with ¼ of a slice, I needed to find a common denominator.
I know I can replace the ½  with 2/4 because they’re equivalent fractions.
Now all  my fractions are in fourths and have a common denominator of 4… This lets me add them easily- 2/4 plus `¼ mudst be ¾ just like 2 apples plus one apple is 3 apples…
You can see how common denominators help us when adding fractions!

You can never ever add,
A skateboard to a train,
They’re really very different,  they’re surely not the same…
Oranges and apples,
Are truly different things,
Don’t ever add your french fries to your onion rings!
You can never add your french fries to your onion rings!
But you can always find the sum of chocolate chips,
And always find the total of a group of groovy grapes,
You can add those things, that make a perfect match,
And when you’re adding fractions that’s the little catch!
When you’re adding fractions denominators match..

Adding fractions? There’s a catch,
You gotta make the denominators match!
Adding fractions? There’s a catch,
You gotta make the denominators match!
Matching your fractions like thirds with thirds,
You can‘t add elephants to blue birds!
Quarters with quarters and halves with halves,
Fifths with fifths! Denominators match,