In order to identify 1/2s, 1/4s, and 1/8s and realise how many of each make a whole, the boys were given coloured strips of paper showing 1 whole. They were asked to fold their strip into quarters. We agreed that they could fold the strip in half and then in half again.  Then they opened it out and wrote 1/4 on each section. 

The same procedure was repeated to demonstrate 1/8, after which the boys opened the strip out and were instructed to write 1/8 on each section. When asked how many quarters make one whole the boys could easily get to grips with the concept that 4/4 =1 and similarly 8/8 =1.

The boys were then given a short task wherein they had to use their strips to help them to write the following fractions 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 1/6 and 1/8 in order from smallest to largest. With visual support the boys could easily master the fact that if the top number (numerator) of the fraction is the same, then fractions with larger bottom numbers (denominators) are smaller than those with smaller bottom numbers (denominators), since we are splitting the strip into more parts, so each part is smaller.