Can there be a Bigger Half?

As a class yesterday we discussed the following question:

Shaun said he wanted the bigger half of the sandwich. Is it possible to have a bigger half? Show your work and support your thinking.

The kids went right to work using their wipe boards and markers to see if it was possible. Lots of sandwiches were drawn and many discussions were had. After some small group discussion we had 2 lines of thinking.

Kingston and about 12 other agreed that "Yes, Shaun could have the bigger half, because you can split the sandwich into 2 pieces and there will be one large piece and one small piece."


Emma and about 6 other students disagreed. Emma said "No, Shaun could not have the bigger half because when you make halves you need to use 2 equal pieces."

In the end, we reviewed our ideas around what exactly is one half? We looked at pictures of halves, we reviewed our anchor charts and we thought about what we've learned in the past. It was finally agreed upon by all that 1/2 of any whole must consist of two EQUAL PIECES.