Fourth Grade Math Problems and School Work

How Often Should My Child Practice Fourth Grade Math Problems at Home?

Repetition is an effective way for kids to become comfortable with new math operations. For this reason, your child's teacher may assign homework every night. Put aside at least 30 to 40 minutes each night for him or her to complete this work in a quiet, non-distracting environment. If your child's teacher doesn't assign daily math problems, you may want to make your own worksheets to ensure that your child stays on top of the material.

Schoolwork for fourth graders involves a lot of work with fractions. One area that they study is fraction equivalence. For instance, they learn that 1/2 is equal to 2/4, which also is equal to 4/8. Additionally, they learn to add and subtract fractions with the same denominators. Finally, fourth graders are taught how to multiply a fraction by a whole number.

You can reinforce these concepts at home using visuals. For example, if your child is having trouble understanding fraction equivalence, you can use cookies to illustrate the concept. On one plate, break a cookie in half, and remove one piece; this represents the fraction 1/2. On another plate, break a cookie into fourths, and remove two pieces; this is the fraction 2/4. The same amount of cookie is left on both plates, but the cookies are broken in different ways.

Math Problems for Fourth Graders

1. Write three equivalent fractions for each of the following: 1/3, 1/4 and 3/5.

If your child is struggling to come up with equivalent fractions, remind him or her to use multiplication. For instance, he or she can multiply 1/3 by 2/2, like this: (2 x 1)/(2 x 3), which equals 2/6. Your child can then repeat this process with other numbers, like 5/5 or 10/10, to find equivalent fractions.

2. Is the left fraction greater than, equal to or less than the right fraction? Label using >, = or <.

4/5 and 3/7 (Answer: 4/5 > 3/7)

1/3 and 12/36 (Answer: 1/3 = 12/36)

11/40 and 30/35 (Answer:11/40 < 30/35)

3. 3/11 + 7/11 (Answer: 10/11)

4. 20/30 - 9/30 (Answer: 11/30)

5. 4 x (1/3) (Answer: 4/3)

6. 5 x (3/12) (Answer: 15/12, which can reduce to 5/4)

7. 3 x (7/10)

If your child has difficulty with multiplication problems like those above, be sure to point out that the denominator remains the same, so the whole number is only being multiplied by the numerator. For this problem, (3 x 7)/10, so the answer is 21/10.