Fractional Measurement Units Worksheets
Being able to compare fractional portions of measures was a very desirable skill for many years. When trading between merchant and consumers this was the common means of verifying that an equitable trade was being made. If you go to your local grocery store you will see this still taking place in the produce department. Want to buy a bunch of apples and get an idea of how much you are going to pay? Place them on the scale and you will notice that many of the measures end up in fractional units. Being able to differentiate which of those measures are the smallest and largest is what we are learning in this topic. This collection of worksheets has students learning breakdown measures into fractional units.
Aligned Standard: Grade 4 Measurement - 4.MD.4
- Index Fingers Step-by-Step Lesson- Nine students measured the length of their index fingers. Tell us all about it.
- Guided Lesson - These problems take a bit of room to workout.
- Guided Lesson Explanation - I like to use boxes to work these problems out, but don't be afraid to use just about anything: happy faces, pictures, what ever works.
- Practice Worksheet - This is a really long one. Ten problems that all require some time that are spread over five pages.
- Matching Worksheet - See if you like the way I handled the matching questions. I always see this problem on tests; it never fails.
- Answer Keys - These are for all the unlocked materials above.
Homework Sheets
We integrate the data onto a numbers line. This helps students get the content quickly.
- Homework 1 - Find the difference between the longest and shortest finger. Subtract the shortest finger 2 from the longest finger 4.
- Homework 2 - Teachers measured the height of their students in morning daycare. Each child was measured to the nearest 1/4 foot.
- Homework 3 - Display the data on the numbers line plot below. Then answer the questions below the line plot. All measures are in cm.
Practice Worksheets
We give you the flat scrambled data and ask you to make sense of it. I highly encourage using a numbers line.
- Practice 1 - The heart walk donated money to charity for walking long distances. Participants walked as far as they could and their distance was measured to the nearest 1/4 mile.
- Practice 2 - What is the most common ring finger size?
- Practice 3 - How many measurements are less than 3 inches?
Math Skill Quizzes
These are very matter of fact. This is what you see on most exams at the State level.
- Quiz 1 - Four different classes measured the length of their pinky fingers (inches). The data can be found below.
- Quiz 2 - Students were each given popsicles and asked to measure the length after eating them for 20 seconds.
- Quiz 3 - The heart walk donated money to charity for walking long distances. Participants walked as far as they could and their distance was measured to the nearest quarter mile.
How to Compare Fractional Units of Measure
Fractions having been used in trading just about anything from the early days of trading stones for crops to trading complex financial products of today. Before the concepts of fractions came into existence, people used it for measuring different units. Therefore, for you to enhance the concepts of fractions, you must also learn the concepts of using fractional measurement units in your calculations.
We have already begun to learn to compare fractions, fractional units of measure are the same thing, as long as they are in the same units. For instance, if you were comparing the length of two sneakers and they measured 36 inches and 140 centimeters respectively, you could not create a direct comparison. They would both have to be in the same units of measure. You would first need to choose a standard unit of measure to have them both in whether it was inches or centimeters. It does not matter which one you choose, they just both need to be in the same units.
To review the basic steps of comparing fractions:
Step 1 - Common Denominator.
Make sure they share a common denominator. If they are the same, you are done. If the denominators differ, this means that you will need to transform one or both of the fractions to be in that denominator.
Step 2 - Compare Numerators.
Now that they both have the same denominator which every fraction has a larger numerator is the greater fraction. If both numerators are equal, the fractions are equal.
Example Problem: Which is the largest fraction: 3/7 or 5/14
Step 1: The common denominator that would work is 14. So, we would convert 3/7 to 6/14.
Step 2: Compare the numerators 6/14 vs. 5/14. 6/14 is larger which means the original fraction of 3/7 is larger.
We can also use this simple method to compare story or scenario-based problems. Such as how long it takes us to travel distances. Let’s take a look at this in action: Mr. Thomas is traveling from New York to his hometown in his new car. The duration of the distance from New York to his hometown is around 2 hours, while the distance is 90 km. He wishes to travel during the night so that he doesn't get stuck with traffic.
If he travels in the daytime, then he could reach his home in 3 hours. In other words, he can cover a distance of 90 km in about 30 km/hr. Now, if he travels by night, how much distance can he cover during the nighttime? After the trip was completed, he calculated that the total time to cover the distance was 2 hours. So, in other words, he traveled 90 km/2 hrs. So, in an hour, he traveled 45 km/ hr.