Third Grade Fraction Problems and Practice Drills

Overview of Third Grade Fractions

In third grade, your child will be learning how to recognize and create equivalent fractions. Comparing two fractions using greater than (>), less than (<) or equal to (=) is also an important mathematical skill for this grade level. Your child will be expected to understand how a whole number can be expressed as a fraction, as well as how a whole number can be broken down into fractional parts. Feel free to provide your child with hands-on materials to help him or her solve the problems below.

Fraction Problems and Solutions

1. Sally's parents ordered two large pizzas for her birthday. Sally ate 2/16 of the pizza, her friend Amber ate 4/16, Mom ate 3/16 and Dad enjoyed 6/16 of the pizza. Put the amount of pizza eaten in order from the smallest fraction to the largest fraction. Will there be any pizza left for Sally's brother? If so, how much?

The order of fractions from smallest to largest is 2/16, 3/16, 4/16 and 6/16. To determine the total amount of pizza eaten, your child should add all the fractions together like this: 2/16 + 3/16 + 4/16 + 6/16 = 15/16. There would be 1/16 of the pizza left for Sally's brother.

2. In Sam's class, 3/5 of his classmates used the Internet for their research. What are two fractions that are equivalent to 3/5?

To determine equivalent fractions, your child should multiply the numerator and denominator by the same number. Possible answers are: 3/5 x 2/2 = 6/10 or 3/5 x 3/3 = 9/15.

3. Amy ate 2/6 of the brownies her mom baked. If Amy's brother ate an equivalent amount of brownies, how much would he have eaten?

To calculate an equivalent fraction, your child can multiply: 2/6 x 2/2 =4/12 or 2/6 x 4/4 = 8/24.

4. Anna made cookies with her mom. One batch made 12 cookies. Anna ate 2/12 of the cookies, her mom ate 3/12 and her brother ate 5/12. How many cookies will be left for Dad?

To solve this problem, your child should first add the amount of cookies that were eaten (2/12 + 3/12 + 5/12 = 10/12). To determine how many cookies would be left for Dad, your child should subtract the amount eaten from the total (12/12 - 10/12 = 2/12).

5. There are 22 students in the third grade class. For the party, 8/22 of the students wanted grape drink, 6/22 wanted cherry drink and 2/22 wanted strawberry drink. If everyone else in the class wanted orange drink, what would that fraction be?

Your child should begin by adding the known fractions together like this: 8/22 + 6/22 + 2/22 = 16/22. To calculate how many classmates wanted orange drink, your child should subtract: 22/22 - 16/22 = 6/22.