Fractions•Grade 4•Drill

Grade 4 Adding Fractions (Like Denominators)

Adding fractions with like denominators in grade 4, every answer written in simplest form. Sixteen problems on a printable PDF with the answer key.

CCSSAligned to Common Core 4.NF.3: Understand addition and subtraction of fractions as joining and separating parts referring to the same whole; add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers with like denominators.

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Three different problem sets — same skill, same layout, fresh numbers.

Preview — Set A

Add the fractions. Write each answer in its simplest form.

1.
1/4 + 1/4 =
2.
2/5 + 1/5 =
3.
3/8 + 1/8 =
4.
2/6 + 2/6 =
5.
1/3 + 1/3 =
6.
3/10 + 2/10 =
7.
1/8 + 3/8 =
8.
2/7 + 3/7 =
9.
4/9 + 2/9 =
10.
1/6 + 1/6 =
11.
3/12 + 3/12 =
12.
2/5 + 2/5 =
13.
1/10 + 4/10 =
14.
2/8 + 2/8 =
15.
1/5 + 3/5 =
16.
3/9 + 3/9 =

What this worksheet covers

This is a 16-problem drill for grade 4 fractions, printed in black and white with the key on page two. Within that, several problems use mixed numbers, which have to be handled without dropping the whole-number part and the numbers run as high as 12. Problems 6 and 11, for instance, are "3/10 + 2/10" and "3/12 + 3/12". The sheet sits inside Common Core 4.NF.3, in the grade 4 Number & Operations—Fractions strand.

Skills practiced

Grade 4 fractions means adding and subtracting like denominators, equivalent fractions, and multiplying by a whole number. The skill on the page: grade 4 Adding Fractions (Like Denominators). Concretely, the sheet tests whether a student can work in fractional units and give the answer in lowest terms. Six different answers appear across the sixteen problems, so a student cannot copy one result down the page.

About the drill format

A drill is straight practice: 16 problems of the same kind, laid out across the page with working space under each — problem 6, "3/10 + 2/10" is typical of the whole page. A page of one fraction operation lets the renaming step become routine before anything else is layered on.

Set A, Set B and Set C

Set A is the original sheet; Sets B and C redraw each problem with the same shape and recomputed answers. Where Set A's problem 9 is "4/9 + 2/9", Set B's is "5/9 + 1/9".

How to use this worksheet

By grade 4 a student should take all sixteen fractions problems in one sitting. If the page takes more than about fifteen minutes, the underlying facts are probably not automatic yet, and that is worth fixing before more fractions practice piles on. Date the drill before filing it. Set C from six weeks later is the cheapest evidence you have that the fractions stuck.

One mistake to watch for

Numerators and denominators are added separately: 1/2 + 1/3 is answered 2/5 instead of 5/6. On this grade 4 drill, problem 8 ("2/7 + 3/7") is the kind of item where it shows.

The fraction is read as two whole numbers stacked, not as a count of a unit.

Use fraction strips and ask what a "fifth" would even be here; halves and thirds are different units and must be renamed before combining.

The full guide to teaching fractionsTeaching fractions from equal shares to rational numbers: the grade 1–8 progression, why the number line matters, and the misconceptions that persist for years.