Someone asked me to share how I would teach adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators so here it is:

Totally agree with calling the denominator the "unit". We are essentially adding four bananas and 3 bananas, then replace "bananas" with the fractional slice

Way too abstract for 5th grade still. Gotta break it down further.

Totally off topic, it's nice to see you use Polypad!

@DocSTEM It’s so much easier staying in abstract and getting kids there quickly. I feel like a piece of the problem w Elem math Ed is staying in concrete too long or expecting it to accomplish too much (?)

Me too!