5th Grade Math Assignments: Get Math Practice at Home

How Can I Help My Child With 5th Grade Math Assignments?

In 5th grade, your child likely will have math homework every night. Typically, the teacher assigns practice problems based on the lesson learned that day. If your child is struggling with these math assignments, you may want to sit with him or her and provide help so he or she doesn't fall behind. In some cases, your proximity may be enough to keep your child focused on the assignment.

Before your child starts on his or her math homework, ask him or her to explain the concept of the day to you. Retelling the concept to someone else may help your child clarify it in his or her mind and can help you know what is confusing him or her. If you notice your child struggling over a specific part of the concept, reteach it, and provide a few simple practice problems. Then, have your child move on to his or her homework while you remain nearby.

Practice Problems by Topic

Addition and Subtraction with Fractions

1. 7/12 + 2/3

Your 5th grader should begin by determining a common denominator for these fractions. To do so, he or she can multiply the second fraction (2/3) by (4/4) so that each fraction will have 12 as its denominator. The problem should now look like this: 7/12 + 8/12 = 15/12, which reduces to 5/4.

2. 5/6 - 3/5

To find a common denominator for these two fractions, you child should multiply the two denominators together, which equals 30. He or she should then multiply the first fraction (5/6) by 5/5, resulting in 25/30. For the second fraction, your child should multiply by 6/6, which equals 18/30. The problem will look like this: 25/30 - 18/30 = 7/30.

Division

1. 250 ÷ 15

This problem may be intimidating to your child because it has a 2-digit divisor. However, it's important that you don't allow him or her to use a calculator because he or she needs to learn to solve these problems by hand. Using long division, and rounding his or her answer to the nearest hundredth, your child should come up with the answer 16.67.

2. 253 ÷ 11

Make sure your child is formatting his or her long division problems correctly. With this problem, 11 should go to the left of the long division sign, and 253 should go underneath it. The answer is 23.

Volume

1. A cube has a height of three inches. What's the volume?

Often, your child will use the formula V = l x w x h (Volume = length x width x height) to calculate volume. A cube's sides are all the same in measurement, so this problem should look like this: V = 3 x 3 x 3 = 27 cubic inches.

2. Your new fish tank is three feet long, four feet wide and two feet high. What's the volume of the tank?

For this problem, V = 3 x 4 x 2 = 24 cubic feet. Volume is indicated using cubic units. Make sure all of your child's answers are labeled correctly.