4th grade · Math · Unit 7 of 17
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.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 4.3(C); 4.3(D) · equivalent fractions, and comparing fractions with different numerators and denominators
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 Texas
In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 7 of 17 in 4th grade Math, after Times as Many and before Fractions.
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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)
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
Kenji ran 2/5 of a trail. Ravi ran 2/6 of the same trail. Who ran farther?
🏃- Ravi
- They are the same
- Kenji
Kenji
Hint: Both ran 2 parts. A trail cut into fewer parts has longer parts, so the smaller bottom number is farther.
Question 2
Which fraction is greater than 1/2?
- 5/8
- 2/12
- 1/3
5/8
Hint: Double the top number and compare it with the bottom number. For 5/8: 5 + 5 = 10, which is more than 8, so it's more than half.
Question 3
Which fraction is equal to 1/3?
- 6/9
- 3/10
- 3/9
3/9
Hint: Multiply the top and the bottom by the same number: 1 × 3 = 3 and 3 × 3 = 9. Same amount, just more pieces.
Question 4
Which sign goes in the box?
2/10 2/11
- <
- =
- >
>
Hint: Both have 2 parts. A whole cut into fewer parts has bigger parts: one 10-part piece is bigger than one 11-part piece. So 2/10 is bigger than 2/11.
Question 5
Put the fractions in order from least to greatest.
- 3/4
- 3/9
- 3/11
- 3/6
3/11 → 3/9 → 3/6 → 3/4
Hint: They all have 3 parts. The more pieces a whole is cut into, the smaller each piece. So the biggest bottom number is the least.
Question 6
What fraction is shaded?
answer box
1/3
Hint: Count all the equal parts (3). That's the bottom number. Count the shaded parts (1). That's the top number.