4th grade · Math · Unit 4 of 15
Fractions
Compare and order fractions
What your child practices
Naming fractions from pictures and number lines, comparing fractions with the same top or bottom number, using 1/2 as a benchmark, and finding equal fractions.
Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 4.NF.A.1; 4.NF.A.2 · equivalent fractions and comparing fractions
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- The bottom number is how many equal parts. The top is how many we have.
- Equal fractions name the same amount: 1/2 = 2/4.
- Same bottom: compare tops. Same top: more parts means smaller pieces.
Example: Which is bigger: 1/6 or 1/9? Same top number, 1. 9 parts are smaller pieces, so 1/6 is bigger. Answer: 1/6
Fractions in Arizona
In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 4 of 15 in 4th grade Math, after Multiply & Divide and before Decimals.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
Source: Arizona Department of Education
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
What fraction is shaded?
answer box
4/6
Hint: Count all the equal parts (6). That's the bottom number. Count the shaded parts (4). That's the top number.
Question 2
Put the fractions in order from least to greatest.
- 2/7
- 2/4
- 2/3
- 2/9
2/9 → 2/7 → 2/4 → 2/3
Hint: They all have 2 parts. The more pieces a whole is cut into, the smaller each piece. So the biggest bottom number is the least.
Question 3
Which fraction is equal to 2/5?
- 7/15
- 6/15
- 6/16
6/15
Hint: Multiply the top and the bottom by the same number: 2 × 3 = 6 and 5 × 3 = 15. Same amount, just more pieces.
Question 4
Which sign goes in the box?
4/10 1/10
- <
- =
- >
>
Hint: Both fractions are cut into 10 equal parts, so the parts are the same size. 4 parts is more than 1 part.
Question 5
Which fraction is greater than 1/2?
- 1/4
- 4/12
- 2/3
2/3
Hint: Double the top number and compare it with the bottom number. For 2/3: 2 + 2 = 4, which is more than 3, so it's more than half.
Question 6
What fraction goes where the ? is?
- 2/5
- 2/4
- 3/4
- 1/4
2/4
Hint: The space from 0 to 1 is cut into 4 equal jumps. Count the jumps (not the tick marks) from 0 to the ?.