Whether you’re prepping for a new school year or diving into some PD, this ratios and proportions professional development session is a goldmine for 6th grade math teachers. In just 25 minutes, you’ll get a refresher on the kinds of ratio reasoning skills your students need. Plus, you’ll discover ideas you can use right away when teaching ratios and proportions.
Start With the Ratios and Proportions Video
This PD session breaks down key concepts you’ll be teaching all year long. Concepts range from part-to-part and part-to-whole ratios to unit rates and percent applications. The video does a great job explaining why proportional reasoning is so important and where your students often struggle. It goes beyond just solving missing value proportions. You’ll get examples of different strategies like ratio tables, double number lines, and tape diagrams. They are all modeled clearly, so you can use them in your own classroom. There’s even a quick percent problem walkthrough and a look at the goldfish lesson that students love.
Don’t Skip the Goldfish Proportions Lesson
One of the most engaging parts of this training is the goldfish cracker proportions activity. It’s hands-on, it’s memorable, and best of all, it brings proportional reasoning to life in a way that clicks with your students. In this lesson, your students are presented with a real-world scenario. Scientists need to estimate the number of fish in a bay. How do they do that without counting every single one? Enter the tag-and-recapture method.
Your students start by tagging a sample of goldfish crackers, replacing them with pretzel goldfish to represent the marked fish. Then, they mix everything together and take additional samples, recording how many tagged fish appear each time. After several rounds, your students use proportions to estimate the total fish population in the bay.
This activity is so powerful because it connects classroom math to actual scientific practices. Your students aren’t just solving a made-up word problem. They’re simulating a method wildlife biologists use in the field. It naturally leads to rich discussions about ratios, sample sizes, and the accuracy of estimates. Plus, your students love the chance to be hands-on and collaborative. Grab the full activity breakdown.
Ratios and Proportions Resource
My Ratios and Proportions Unit includes everything you need to walk your students through the standards in a consistent, scaffolded way. The unit starts with guided notes and interactive fold-it-up activities that break down vocabulary. These materials give your students a reference to use throughout the unit. Each lesson follows a routine that keeps things predictable for your students: I Can statements, examples, a You Try It section, and practice problems.
The resource also includes exit tickets, a quiz, and a cumulative assessment to track how your students are doing. There’s even a printable word wall file that highlights key vocabulary like unit rate, equivalent ratios, and proportion. These visual supports can make a big difference for your students who need those reminders during practice and review.
Engage Your Students During Your Ratios and Proportions Lesson
This PD session and the paired classroom resource work hand-in-hand to help you teach ratios and proportions with more clarity and confidence. You’re building a toolkit of strategies that empowers your students to reason through problems, represent their thinking in multiple ways, and apply what they’ve learned to real-world scenarios.
You’ll have the tools to reach your learners at all levels, from hands-on exploration with manipulatives to visual models like tape diagrams and double number lines. The unit structure ensures that your instruction is consistent and scaffolded, so students grow their understanding day by day. You can feel confident that your students are mastering both the conceptual and procedural sides of ratios and proportions.
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