Skill: Partition shapes into halves

To partition a shape into halves, divide the whole shape into two parts with the same area. Each part is one-half, written as $\frac{1}{2}$.

Example: Partition a rectangle that is $6$ units long and $4$ units wide.

1. Find the whole area:

$$6 \times 4 = 24\text{ square units}$$

2. Split the whole area into two equal parts:

$$24 \div 2 = 12\text{ square units}$$

3. Draw a line across the middle of the rectangle so that each smaller rectangle is $6$ units long and $2$ units wide.

4. Check each part:

$$6 \times 2 = 12\text{ square units}$$

Both parts have an area of $12$ square units, so they are equal. Each part is $\frac{1}{2}$ of the whole rectangle.

The two halves do not have to look different or special—the important thing is that they have equal area.