🥐 Brick by Brick Bakery

Every pastry is built from unit-fraction bricks. Assemble, decompose, and price the day’s treats.

REMEMBER: Every fraction is a stack of unit bricks. 5/8 is five copies of 1/8. To add or subtract fractions with the same denominator, just count the bricks — the piece size does not change, only the count. A mixed number like 1 1/4 is one whole plus 1/4, and the whole is really 4/4 in disguise — trade it whenever you need more bricks. To multiply a fraction by a whole number, take that many copies. Decimals like 0.62 are just another way to write 62/100.

Part 1 · The Bakery Floor

Four stations. First: assemble a fraction from unit bricks and see it decomposed multiple ways. Then the mixed-number oven, the multiplier oven, and the digital price display where fractions become decimals.

Station 1 — Assemble & Decompose

Denominators 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12. Numerator up to 20 (so 5/8, 7/12, 13/8, etc.).

Station 2 — Mixed-Number Oven (add and subtract, with regrouping)

Denominators must match (like denominators). Regrouping happens automatically.

Station 3 — Multiplier Oven (n copies of a fraction)

Station 4 — Digital Price Display (fraction ↔ decimal)

Part 2 · Bakery Challenges

Predict, then lock in. Some rounds ask for a sum, some for a decomposition, some for a decimal.

Part 3 · The Machines

Three step-by-step machines. Each step says what to do and why.

Add or subtract fractions with like denominators (with regrouping)

    Multiply a fraction by a whole number

      Convert between decimals and fractions (tenths and hundredths)

        Part 4 · Head Baker Quiz

        Ten questions. Each wrong answer tells you which station to revisit.

        Question 1 of 10 Score: 0

        Word Box

        Unit fraction
        A fraction with 1 on top: 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/8. Every fraction is a stack of unit fractions.
        Decompose
        Break a fraction into smaller pieces that add up to it: 5/8 = 3/8 + 2/8 = 4/8 + 1/8.
        Like denominators
        Bottom numbers are the same. Adding or subtracting just counts the unit bricks.
        Mixed number
        Whole plus fraction: 1 3/4 = 1 + 3/4 = 7/4 as an improper fraction.
        Improper fraction
        Numerator is more than or equal to the denominator: 7/4, 5/5, 12/8. Can always be renamed as a mixed number (or whole).
        Regrouping (trading)
        Turning a whole into d/d when you need extra bricks to subtract, or bundling d/d back up into a whole.
        Decimal notation
        Another way to write fractions with denominators 10 or 100. 3/10 = 0.3, 62/100 = 0.62.
        Tenths · Hundredths
        Place values just after the decimal point. 0.4 is 4 tenths; 0.04 is 4 hundredths.
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