Year 4 Efficient strategies for adding and subtracting mixed numbers (crossing a whole) worksheet

“Adding mixed numbers” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 4 maths unit “Efficient strategies for adding and subtracting mixed numbers (crossing a whole)”, for children aged 8 to 9, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Week 28 of the year, 5 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Adding mixed numbers

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 4 · Maths · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can add mixed numbers when the fractions make one whole or more.

A Look back3 min

1.
How many fifths are shaded?
2.
9 - 4 =
3.
2 quarters are shaded. Shade 1 more quarter. How many quarters are shaded now?

B Watch me, then you4 min

A baker has 1 and 3/4 cups of flour in one bowl. She adds 3/4 of a cup more. How much flour is there now?

Watch me

Add the fractions: 3/4 + 3/4 = 6/4.

6/4 is one whole and 2/4, because 4/4 makes one whole.

Add the wholes: 1 + 1 = 2, so the answer is 2 and 2/4.

Now you

1.
1 and 4/5 + 2/5 = ? Circle the answer with a fraction less than one whole.
2 and 1/51 and 6/52 and 2/53 and 1/5

C Your turn6 min

Two glass mixing bowls of flour on a kitchen counter

1.
2 and 1/4 + 1/4 = ? Circle the answer.
2 and 2/43 and 2/42 and 1/42 and 3/4
2.
2 and 2/4 + 2/4 =
3.
2 and 3/4 + 3/4 = ? Circle the answer with a fraction less than one whole.
3 and 2/42 and 6/43 and 6/44 and 2/42 and 3/4
4.
2 and 3/5 + 4/5 = ? Circle the answer with a fraction less than one whole.
3 and 2/52 and 7/53 and 7/55 and 2/5

Say it out loud: What stayed the same in each row, and what changed? Why did the answer change when the fraction got bigger?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Kit says: “2 and 3/4 + 2/4 = 2 and 5/4, so that is the answer.”

1.
Kit has not finished. Circle the answer with a fraction less than one whole.
2 and 5/43 and 1/43 and 5/45 and 1/4

E Think deeper4 min

1.
Which fraction in fifths added to 2 and 3/5 makes exactly 3? Now add a bigger fraction in fifths to 2 and 3/5 and write the answer as a mixed number.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Adding mixed numbers · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. 3

2. 5

3. 3

B

1. 2 and 1/5 If your child circles 1 and 6/5, the fractions are added but not finished. 6/5 is more than one whole, so change it to 1 and 1/5 and add the 1.

C

1. 2 and 2/4

2. 3

3. 3 and 2/4

4. 3 and 2/5 If your child circles 3 and 7/5, 7/5 is more than one whole. Change it to 1 and 2/5, then add the 1 to the wholes.

D

1. 3 and 1/4 If your child circles 2 and 5/4, ask: is 5/4 more than one whole? Change it to 1 and 1/4 and add the 1 to the wholes.

E

1. Look for: Writes 2/5 for exactly 3, then adds a bigger fraction in fifths and gives a correct mixed number with a fraction under one whole, such as 2 and 3/5 + 4/5 = 3 and 2/5. If your child writes 3/5, ask how many more fifths fill the bar after 3 fifths are shaded.

Words to use

Say“Add the fractions first. If they make a whole or more, move that whole across to the whole numbers.”

Instead of“Just tell them the answer and move on.”

After the sheet

Fold four strips of paper into quarters. Shade 2 whole strips, then 3 quarters of the third strip and 3 quarters of the fourth. Move shaded quarters to fill whole strips, then count them.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

4 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Exchanging a whole(with a plan)
Taking away mixed numbers(with a plan)
Choose the Quick Method(with a plan)
Mixed number problems(with a plan)

Every Year 4 maths worksheet

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