Browse topics

Curriculum

Explore all 1,590 open curriculum concepts.

Advanced filters
MathematicsFractionsAges 10–13

Fraction Word Problems

Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions with unlike denominators, using visual models and benchmark fractions to estimate and assess reasonableness

Lesson

Set out your lesson

Choose addition or subtraction for unlike-denominator fraction stories, and use benchmarks to challenge unreasonable answers.

Before teaching

Use this short check, then start teaching.

Activity

Revisit mt_14T5yPXUq_ if common-denominator arithmetic is uncertain. Ask whether a story combines amounts or finds what remains, before introducing numbers. Canonical ages are 10–11, not a readiness guarantee. These activity checks are inferred; source availability is not mastery.

Policy

Check learner readiness directly; prerequisite availability is not attainment.

Printer, credit, and teaching notes

Check learner readiness directly; prerequisite availability is not attainment.

Instructions

Use the supplied screen sheets or print only the active sheet. A pencil and scrap paper are enough; no printer, purchase, cutting, cooking, food handling or personal disclosure is required. Read Show first, then use Together with support. Put Show and adult keys aside before Try. Stories are fictional; no activity is evidence until the learner actually attempts it. Allow drawing, pointing, oral explanation or adult scribing; record the support actually used. Scribed mathematics is not independent handwriting. Pause or return to a prerequisite when needed, without treating uncertainty as failure.

Teach The Idea

Read for the relationship, not a keyword. Combining amounts uses addition; taking some away or comparing amounts can use subtraction. Make a rough estimate using zero, one half and one whole before computing. Then rename the fractions in a shared unit and decide whether the exact result fits the story.

Teaching Procedure

Read the Show model aloud while tracing the relevant unit. In Together, invite an attempt before giving the private hint. Ask the learner to explain why the operation fits. For Try, remove worked material and let the learner choose a representation. Discuss mistakes after recording the attempt, then retry another day if useful.

Models And Materials

Supplied fixed-unit models make partition size, equal sharing or square-area units visible. Learner diagrams are blank scaffolds or stated givens, not worked answers. Screen or paper drawing serves the purpose; no digital interactive is needed.

Use the complete materials on screen or print only the current sheet. Keep adult guidance out of learner view.

Next: Show

Share teaching feedback

Continue learning
Share and support
Compare teaching approaches

Teaching approaches

Gakuva’s recommended starting approach is selected. You can still compare every option.

1 approach

Selected Default Gakuva

Choose addition or subtraction for unlike-denominator fraction stories, and use benchmarks to challenge unreasonable answers.

Choose addition or subtraction for unlike-denominator fraction stories, and use benchmarks to challenge unreasonable answers.

Family records and proof options

Keep a record of your learning

Save photos, notes, and attendance. Export a proof packet for compliance or portfolio reviews.

Learning resources

Extra practice links — they do not replace Gakuva’s teaching approach.

Illustrative Mathematics · Practice link — not the full lesson

Half of a Recipe

Open practice (new tab)
Before you open · source notes

A recipe story supports fraction word problems. Not every percent discount.

Free, no sign-in. A teacher solution is on the same page, so use the student view with your child.

Before you open

Ask the learner to find half of a recipe amount and say what the answer means.

Opening this link does not save learning or assess mastery.

Source, access and review notes

Public Illustrative Mathematics task page. The .html address responds HTTP 308 to this URL. An anonymous GET of this URL on 2026-11-12 returned HTTP 200 with no login or payment prompt. Where a teacher solution is present, it is on the same page as the student task; this check did not find a separate locked student view. An adult can use the student view section and should not read a solution aloud. Advertising was not observed in the fetched HTML text; that is not a browser, device, or ad-free guarantee. This is a paper or discussion task, not an automatically marked interactive game. Opening the link does not save practice or assess mastery. Diagrams on the page use missing or filename-only alt text, so they are not an accessible image equivalent. Accessibility still depends on an adult describing the picture.

Illustrative Mathematics. “Half of a Recipe.” Licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. External task; Gakuva does not copy, host, embed, or redistribute it.

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — link only

Check understanding

  • Solve: 'Tara ate 2/5 of a pizza and Sam ate 1/3. How much did they eat together?'
  • Recognise that 2/5 + 1/2 ≠ 3/7 because 3/7 < 1/2 but the sum should exceed 1/2
  • Estimate a fraction sum using benchmarks (0, 1/2, 1) before computing exactly
“If your child walks 1 and 1/2 miles to school and 3/4 of a mile to a friend's house, can they work out the total distance — and check whether their answer makes sense?”

Curriculum record

Type
Procedural
Subject
Mathematics
Domain
Fractions
Age range
Ages 10–13

Standards

acara-v9:AC9M6N05acara-v9:AC9M6N08ccss-math:5.NF.2the-ontario-curriculum-mathematics-2020:ON-MATH-2020-G6-B2.1the-ontario-curriculum-mathematics-2020:ON-MATH-2020-G6-B2.5the-ontario-curriculum-mathematics-2020:ON-MATH-2020-G7-B2.1the-ontario-curriculum-mathematics-2020:ON-MATH-2020-G7-B2.5