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Worksheet Grade 5 Math

Quarrenden Orchard Water Share: A Grade 5 Fraction Worksheet

A grade 5 worksheet reading a fraction as division, sharing whole tanker loads among the tree blocks of a fictional orchard and naming each share.

Objectives

  1. Students will interpret a fraction as the division of the numerator by the denominator.
  2. Students will write a share of tanker loads as a fraction or a mixed number in lowest terms.
  3. Students will explain when a share will be less than one whole load and when it will be more.

Vocabulary

Key words: share, mixed number, lowest terms, block, tanker

Teacher overview

Quarrenden Orchard is a fictional apple farm whose trees are planted in groups called blocks. A pond behind the barn fills a tanker several times each morning, and the crew drives each load out and gives every block an equal share of the day's water. The number of loads and the number of blocks rarely divide evenly, so the crew's answer is almost always a fraction or a mixed number of a load, which makes the orchard a natural setting for reading a fraction as division. The misconception this worksheet targets is writing the division backward, so that 3 loads shared among 4 blocks is recorded as 4/3 of a load instead of 3/4, an error that survives because both numbers appear in the answer.

Quarrenden Orchard Water Share: A Grade 5 Fraction Worksheet — Grade 5 Math
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

The crew at Quarrenden Orchard shares each day's water equally among the blocks of trees. Write each share as a fraction or a mixed number of a load. Write every answer in lowest terms.

  1. The crew shares 3 loads equally among 4 blocks. How much does each block get?
  2. The crew shares 5 loads equally among 8 blocks. How much does each block get?
  3. The crew shares 7 loads equally among 4 blocks. How much does each block get?
  4. The crew shares 9 loads equally among 5 blocks. How much does each block get?
  5. The crew shares 6 loads equally among 4 blocks. How much does each block get?
  6. The crew shares 10 loads equally among 4 blocks. How much does each block get?
  7. The crew shares 8 loads equally among 3 blocks. How much does each block get?
  8. Look back at item 1. Is each block's share more than one full load or less than one full load?
  9. The crew shares 11 loads equally among 6 blocks. How much does each block get?
  10. Explain why sharing 7 loads among 4 blocks gives each block more than one full load.

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key
  1. Answer: 3/4 load.
    Three loads shared by 4 blocks is 3 divided by 4, which is 3/4 of a load for each block.
  2. Answer: 5/8 load.
    Five loads shared by 8 blocks is 5 divided by 8, which is 5/8 of a load for each block.
  3. Answer: 1 3/4 loads.
    Seven loads shared by 4 blocks is 7 divided by 4, or 7/4, and 7/4 written as a mixed number is 1 3/4 loads.
  4. Answer: 1 4/5 loads.
    Nine loads shared by 5 blocks is 9 divided by 5, or 9/5, and 9/5 written as a mixed number is 1 4/5 loads.
  5. Answer: 1 1/2 loads.
    Six loads shared by 4 blocks is 6 divided by 4, or 6/4. In lowest terms that is 3/2, which is 1 1/2 loads.
  6. Answer: 2 1/2 loads.
    Ten loads shared by 4 blocks is 10 divided by 4, or 10/4. In lowest terms that is 5/2, which is 2 1/2 loads.
  7. Answer: 2 2/3 loads.
    Eight loads shared by 3 blocks is 8 divided by 3, or 8/3, and 8/3 written as a mixed number is 2 2/3 loads.
  8. Answer: Less than one full load.
    There are more blocks than loads in item 1, so the 3 loads must be cut into 4 equal pieces and each piece is smaller than a whole load.
  9. Answer: 1 5/6 loads.
    Eleven loads shared by 6 blocks is 11 divided by 6, or 11/6, and 11/6 written as a mixed number is 1 5/6 loads.
  10. Answer: There are more loads than blocks.
    Four of the 7 loads give each block one whole load, and the 3 loads that are left are still waiting to be shared. Those 3 extra loads add another 3/4 of a load to every block, so each share passes one full load.

Differentiation

Support

Give these students paper circles cut in halves, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, and eighths, and have them lay out one circle for each load and then deal the pieces into groups of blocks drawn on a mat. Provide the division sentence already written for items 1 through 4 so students only have to name the answer, then remove that scaffold for the later items.

Extension

Ask students to find every pair of whole numbers under 20 that would give each block exactly 2 1/2 loads, then explain what those pairs have in common. Have them write one new item for the worksheet whose answer is 3 1/3 loads and include the full solution on a separate page.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "share," "equally," "block," and "load" with a simple drawing of a tanker truck beside four groups of trees. Provide a sentence frame for items 8 and 10: "Each block gets ___ than one load because there are ___ loads and ___ blocks."

Extensions

Have students find out how many classes share the drinking fountains at their own school, then imagine the school received 5 tanker loads of water for the day. Ask them to write the share for each class as a fraction or mixed number of a load and to explain whether the share would grow or shrink if two more classes joined the school.