4th grade · Math · Unit 4 of 12
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.
Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 4.3.5.12; 4.3.5.13 · 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 Minnesota
In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 4 of 12 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.
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
Which fraction is equal to 1/2?
- 2/4
- 1/4
- 2/5
2/4
Hint: Multiply the top and the bottom by the same number: 1 × 2 = 2 and 2 × 2 = 4. Same amount, just more pieces.
Question 2
Which fraction is greater than 1/2?
- 1/3
- 1/6
- 3/4
3/4
Hint: Double the top number and compare it with the bottom number. For 3/4: 3 + 3 = 6, which is more than 4, so it's more than half.
Question 3
What fraction is shaded?
answer box
3/4
Hint: Count all the equal parts (4). That's the bottom number. Count the shaded parts (3). That's the top number.
Question 4
What fraction goes where the ? is?
- 3/4
- 3/5
- 1/4
- 2/4
3/4
Hint: The space from 0 to 1 is cut into 4 equal jumps. Count the jumps (not the tick marks) from 0 to the ?.
Question 5
Which sign goes in the box?
5/12 2/12
- <
- =
- >
>
Hint: Both fractions are cut into 12 equal parts, so the parts are the same size. 5 parts is more than 2 parts.
Question 6
Ravi ran 1/4 of a trail. Noah ran 1/2 of the same trail. Who ran farther?
🏃- They are the same
- Ravi
- Noah
Noah
Hint: Both ran 1 part. A trail cut into fewer parts has longer parts, so the smaller bottom number is farther.