Operations With Fractions Teaching Resources
Teach the rules of fractions operations and give kids plenty of practice adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions this school year with printable worksheets, interactive digital activities and more curriculum-aligned teacher resources.
Created by the teachers on the Teach Starter math team for teachers like you, each resource in this math collection has been designed to integrate easily into your lesson plans. You'll even find editable options so you can easily adapt resources to differentiate instruction.
Whether you're new to teaching fraction operations or you could just a quick refresher, read on for some handy tips from our teacher team on teaching students how to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions.
Operations With Fractions vs. Operations With Whole Numbers — What's the Difference?
Teaching your students about operations with fractions builds off the knowledge they have already gained about operations with whole numbers, but the nature of fractions and their representation of parts of a whole make this math concept distinctly different. That can be a challenge for students to comprehend!
So, let's take a look at some of the differences at hand when we talk about completing the different math operations with fractions vs. whole numbers.
Operations With Whole Numbers | Operations With Fractions |
Results are always whole numbers | Results may be fractions or mixed numbers |
Does not require an additional step of finding a common denominator | May require finding a common denominator before the operation can be completed |
How Do You Add Fractions?
Once students understand the basics of fractions, it's time to teach how they work in relation to the different operations. We'll start with teaching kids addition with fractions.
To add two or more fractions, students will need to:
- Find a common denominator (also known as the least common denominator or LCD) that is a multiple of the denominators of all the fractions. A common denominator can be found by finding the least common multiple (LCM) of the denominators.
- Once students have found the common denominator, they need to learn to convert each fraction so that it has the same denominator as the others. This is done by multiplying both the numerator and denominator of each fraction by the same number so that the denominator is equal to the common denominator.
- After converting the fractions to have the same denominator, they can add the numerators of the converted fractions.
- The denominator will be the least common denominator that was found earlier.
How Do You Subtract Fractions?
Finding the sum of fractions is one thing, but how do students find the difference?
- Students will once again need to find a common denominator — a common multiple of the denominators of the fractions.
- Once they have found a common denominator, they can convert each fraction so that it has the same denominator as the others.
- After converting the fractions to have the same denominator, students can subtract the numerators of the converted fractions to find the numerator of the difference. The denominator of the difference will be the common denominator that they found earlier.
How Do You Multiply Fractions?
Once students have adding and subtracting fractions down, they might find that multiplying is a lot simpler!
To multiply two or more fractions, you simply multiply the numerators (the top parts) together to get the numerator of the product, and then multiply the denominators (the bottom parts) together to get the denominator of the product.
How Do You Divide Fractions?
It's time for one last operation! Dividing fractions is one of the more complicated processes elementary students will have to handle when it comes to working with fractions. They will need to know how to invert fractions before they can dive in, aka flipping the numerator and denominator.
To divide fractions, teach students to:
- Invert the second fraction.
- Multiply the two fractions.
- Simplify the quotient — if possible — by finding the greatest common factor of the numerator and denominator and dividing both by it, to get the final answer in simplest form.
How Do You Simplify Fractions?
Simplifying a fraction is pretty, well, simple! It means reducing it to its simplest form. To do this, students will find an equivalent fraction that has the same value but with a smaller numerator and denominator. The numerator and denominator of a simplified fraction have no common factors other than 1.
To simplify a fraction, you can divide both the numerator and denominator by their greatest common factor. You'll then need to keep dividing by the greatest common factor until it is equal to 1, which means that the fraction can't be simplified any further. And there you have it — a simplified fraction!
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I Have Who Has? Game – Composing Fractions
Get your students to compose fractions with an engaging whole-class game perfect for lesson warm-ups or wrap-ups!
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Adding and Subtracting Like Fractions Puzzle Pack
Get your students adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators with this set of nine fraction puzzles!
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Simplify to Multiply – Multiplying Fractions Worksheet
Practice how to simplify fractions before multiplying with this worksheet.
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Adding and Subtracting Fractions Math Investigation
Immerse your students in all things fractions with this math project based around a real-world scenario.
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Adding Unlike Fractions Escape Room – The Lost Time Traveler
Have your super-sleuth students solve this fractions escape room to find out the location of the lost time traveler!
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Adding Fractions With Like Denominators Interactive Maze
Get your students to add like fractions to find their way out of a space-themed digital maze!
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Subtracting Fractions With Like Denominators Teaching Slides
Teach your students how to subtract fractions with like denominators using a variety of strategies with this comprehensive slide deck.
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Number Talks – Adding and Subtracting Fractions with Unlike Denominators Task Cards
Explore addition and subtraction of fractions with your students using this set of 24 number talk task cards.
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Fractions, Decimals and Percentages Worksheets
Use these fractions, decimals and percentages worksheets in your upper elementary classroom for independent practice or as an assessment activity.
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Adding and Subtracting Unlike Fractions Puzzle Pack
Get your students adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators with this set of nine fraction puzzles!
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Subtracting Unlike Fractions Escape Room – The Mystery Mixture
Have your super-sleuth students solve this fractions escape room to discover the identity of the mystery mixture!
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Adding Fractions with Unlike Denominators Worksheet Pack
Download this set of adding fractions with unlike denominators worksheets to help your students practice this important math skill.
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Decomposing Fractions Matching Game
Get your students decomposing fractions with this fun matching game for 4th graders!
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5th Grade Math Review – Google Slides Interactive Activity
Review important 5th-grade math standards with a student-led interactive activity that covers 12 different mathematical concepts.
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Representing Unit Fraction & Whole Number Division – Instructional Slide Deck and Notes
Teach your students how to divide a whole number by a fraction and divide a fraction by a whole number with this instructional slide deck and accompanying student notes.
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Representing Unit Fraction & Whole Number Division – Worksheet
Practice modeling and solving questions related to unit fractions and whole number division with this worksheet.
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Simplify to Multiply – Multiplying Fractions Board Game
Practice how to simplify fractions before multiplying with this board game.
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Simplify to Multiply – Multiplying Fractions Match-Up Activity
Practice simplifying before multiplying fractions with this match-up activity.
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Multiplying Mixed Numbers – Word Problem Worksheet
Solve a variety of word problems with this multiplying mixed numbers worksheet.
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Subtracting Like Fractions Escape Room – The Shape Shifters
Have your super-sleuth students solve this fractions escape room to find out which shape shifter stole all the homework!
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Subtracting Fractions With Like Denominators Interactive Maze
Get your students to subtract like fractions to find their way out of a space-themed digital maze!
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Subtracting Unlike Fractions Word Problems Task Cards
Use this set of word problems for subtracting fractions with unlike denominators to help your students practice this important math skill.
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Composing Fractions – Cut and Paste Worksheet
Get your students composing fractions out of ice cream scoops with this cut-and-paste worksheet perfect for your next fractions lesson.
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Adding Fractions with Unlike Denominators Interactive Maze
Get your students to add fractions with unlike denominators to find their way out of the digital maze!
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Subtracting Fractions With Unlike Denominators Task Cards
Get your students subtracting fractions with unlike denominators using this set of task cards focusing on a variety of strategies.
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Adding Fractions With Unlike Denominators Task Cards
Get your students to add fractions with unlike denominators using this set of task cards focusing on a variety of strategies.
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Adding Fractions With Like Denominators Teaching Slides
Teach your students how to add fractions with like denominators using a variety of strategies with this comprehensive slide deck.
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Subtracting Fractions With Like Denominators Worksheets
Download this set of subtracting fractions with like denominators worksheets to help your students practice this important math skill.
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5th Grade Math Review – Test Prep Packet
Encourage your students to work through 8 pages of 5th-grade math problems while charting their progress to measure their success.
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Dividing Fractions Bingo
Master the ability to divide fractions with a whole-class bingo game.
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Dividing Fractions – Math Mazes
Improve student understanding of dividing a fraction by a fraction while working through these 3 math mazes.
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Multiplying Fractions – Google Slides Interactive Activity
Challenge your students to multiply fractions while completing 7 different tasks with this Google slides interactive activity.