Adding and Subtracting Fractions

Year 5 MathsFractions, Decimals and Percentages4 pages

About this worksheet

Three sets of fraction calculations for Year 5 fill three pages, and a fourth page has the answers. Warm Up gives twelve same-denominator questions, such as 5/8 - 2/8 and 4/11 + 5/11, ending with three missing-number items. Level Up moves to sixteen questions with related denominators: halves with quarters and eighths, and thirds with sixths and twelfths, as in 2/3 + 1/12. Beat the Clock has answers that cross 1. Pupils complete frames like 3/4 + 3/8 = 9/8 = 1 1/8, then work out 1 3/5 - 4/5 and 2 wholes minus 3/8. The key shows simplified forms in brackets. It follows the England National Curriculum for Year 5 fractions.

Page 1 of 4

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Curriculum objectives covered

Number - fractions (including decimals and percentages)

โ€œAdd and subtract fractions with the same denominator and denominators that are multiples of the same numberโ€

Warm Up keeps one denominator throughout. Level Up pairs halves, quarters and eighths, or thirds, sixths and twelfths.

Number - fractions (including decimals and percentages)

โ€œRecognise mixed numbers and improper fractions and convert from one form to the other and write mathematical statements > 1 as a mixed number [for example, 2/5 + 4/5 = 6/5 = 1 1/5]โ€

Questions 1 to 8 on page 3 follow this pattern exactly, and questions 9 and 10 start from a mixed number.

What's inside this worksheet

Warm Up: Same Denominators

Pupils add and subtract twelve pairs with one denominator, from 1/5 + 2/5 to 11/12 - 4/12. Questions 10 to 12 ask for the missing fraction, as in 3/10 + ? = 9/10.

Level Up: Related Denominators

Sixteen questions where one denominator is a multiple of the other, such as 1/4 + 3/8 and 5/6 - 2/3. The last four work backwards, like 5/6 - ? = 1/3.

Beat the Clock: Bridging One Whole

Eight sums with a frame to fill, such as 7/8 + 3/8 = ?/8 = 1 ?/8. Four more follow: 1 3/5 - 4/5, 1 1/8 - 3/4, 7/10 plus 9/10 as a mixed number, and 2 wholes minus 3/8.

Answers

All 40 answers by section. Where a fraction simplifies, the simpler form is in brackets, so 3/9 also shows 1/3.

How teachers use it

Ten-minute starter

Run the Warm Up as a starter. Anyone who writes 3/10 for 1/5 + 2/5 is adding the denominators and needs a bar model before page 2.

Circle the bigger denominator

Before Level Up, ask pupils to circle the larger denominator in each question. In 2/3 + 1/12 that tells them to change 2/3 into twelfths first.

Timed round

Set a five-minute timer for questions 1 to 8 on page 3, as the heading suggests. Then go through 2 wholes minus 3/8 together, since pupils must first write 2 as 16/8.

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