Category: Free Year 4 Maths Worksheets

More year 4 measurement word problems

Following the publication of our first set of measurement word problems for year 4 we have had several requests for some more: so here is the second page.

The questions cover a range of measurements, including converting centimetres to metres  and working with millilitres, grams and even miles. Space is given to write the answers, although children may need to make jottings or even use standard written methods to calculate some of the answers.

Most of these questions are ‘one-step’ in that only one maths operation needs to be done to find the answer, which does make them slightly easier, although children do seem to struggle with word problems generally.

Measuring word problems (2)

Resource of the Week: Christmas maths activities

It’s getting very close to Christmas now and with many activities going on in school why not try a little Christmas maths as well?

This page is quite an open ended challenge as all the possible combinations of presents need to be found. There are four items with prices; a set of beads for £2, a box of chocolates for £3, a bag for £5 and a bottle of perfume for £7.

The task is to find as many different combinations of presents that can be bought for up to £10. The key here is that the whole £10 does not have to be spent.

So 3 sets of beads and a box of chocolates is one possibility, costing £9 in total.

As usual, look for well a well organised logical approach.

This page can be found in the year 4 Using and Applying Maths category.

Christmas presents

 

12.12.12 an interesting date

Those of you who have followed the site for some time will know that I enjoy the quirky dates which come up from time to time, and we have a really good one next week; on 12th December 2012 the date can be written as 12.12.12. On the 12th second of the 12th minute of the 12th hour it can be written as 12.12.12.12.12.12!!

It will be quite some time before this type of recurring number pattern happens again; in fact not until 2101, when I don’t think I will be around to enjoy it!!

of course there are the usual doom mongers suggesting that the world will end as we all get sucked into a black hole, but I think it is a great chance to do a little maths and I was delighted to see that urbrainy.com have published a superb couple of worksheets which they have allowed me to publish.

The first takes a look at the digits 121212 and how many different 3-digit addition sums can be made from them. This type of activity really encourages thinking in a logical, well ordered way and it also brings some issues up, in particular whether the order of addition makes any difference as is 111 + 222 the same as 222 + 111. This is suitable for children around year 4 and can be found in the Year 4 Using and Applying Maths category.

The second set of worksheets looks at using three twelves and the four operations and raises all kinds of interesting mathematical questions. Suitable for Year 6 who have been introduced to BODMAS or as an introduction to it.

Adding with 121212

Calculating with 12 12 12

 

Year 4 maths worksheet: suggesting suitable units to measure

By year 4 it is important that children have a good understanding of the units used to measure and what kind of unit would be sensible to estimate or measure length, mass or capacity.

They should be able to respond to questions such as;

‘About how heavy is a tennis ball?’

or

‘Would you expect a bungalow to be 2 metres, 6 metres or 60 metres tall?’

They should also be able to suggest things that could be measured in:

millimetres, centimetres, metres or kilometres

kilograms or grams

litres or millilitres.

This page takes a look at some common objects and what would be the most sensible estimate of them. it can be found in our Year 4 Measuring category.

Sensible units

Resource of the Week: year 4 multiplication and addition

This week we are highlighting an important part of year 4 maths which looks at the order of operations.

The rule is that multiplication should be worked out before the addition and in most of these questions that is fairly straightforward. However the questions towards the end are quite tricky.

Let’s look at 70 + ?? x 4 = 150

The best way to go about this is to go in reverse order; subtract 70 from 150 which leaves 80.

Then work out what number multiplied by 4 makes 80, which is 20.

Therefore the missing number is 20.

It is best to check this by going back to the original question; multiply 20 by 4 = 80 and then add 80 and 70 = 150, making the statement true.

Many children will find these very difficult to work out as they require several steps.

Multiplication with addition_(3)

Patterns and problems in Year 4

There are many different ways of presenting number problems to children, other than just the traditional ‘sums’ style approach. This page shows three very different approaches to questions that many children will find quite hard.

The first is in the style of a function machine, i.e. a number is put into the machine, various operations are carried out and a number will come out at the end. For this function machine the operations are: x 4 and + 6. The hardest part of this is the last question where the output is given and the input has to be worked out and the machine can be reversed by subtracting 6 and dividing by 4 to get the answer, although many children will use trial and error/improvement methods.

The number sentences in the second question are quite straightforward apart from the fact that both tens and units digits are missing. it is easiest to take one part at a time e.g. find the missing unit and then the missing ten. Watch out for the subtraction!

By year 5 children should be used to magic squares and not find this too tricky, especially with the clue to help.

This page can be found in our year 4, Using and Applying Maths category.

Patterns and problems

Resource of the Week: Find tenths and hundredths

This week we take a look at a worksheet on the relationship between fractions and division. It is important that children understand that finding one half of a number is equivalent to dividing by 2, that finding one tenth of a number is the same as dividing the number by 10 and to find one hundredth is equivalent to dividing by 100. Plenty of practice is needed with this before children go on to find, for example, two tenths, or three hundredths of numbers.

Most of these questions should be calculated mentally, although rough jottings may help. The second set of questions could cause a few problems. For example: ‘What fraction of a £1 is 20 ?’ requires a couple of steps:

Firstly convert the pound to pence £1 = 100p

Secondly write the fraction as 20 out of 100 or 20/100

Thirdly simplify to 2/10 and then 1/5.

Find fractions of numbers (p2)

Resource of the Week: Bar charts

Now we are coming on to more familiar territory for most people when we think of graphs: the bar chart or bar graph. Here the vertical bars represent the number of people going out on a boat. Each bar is completely separate from the others.

It is important that children get used to naming the horizontal and vertical axes and that these axes should always be named.

The hardest part of interpreting this bar chart involves the number of people shown on the vertical axis. The numbers go up in twenties, but of course there are intermediate values. The number of people on the 11.00 boat is more difficult to read and only a close approximation between 120 and 140 can be made. As it looks just less than half way to the next interval an estimate of just below 130 would be very accurate.

It is important not to just look at the graph but to also make some suggestions as to why the results are as they are. Why did the 12.00 boat have the least number of people on it, but the 1.00 boat had the most?

The second worksheet has similar problems, but the numbers on the vertical axis go up in tens rather than twenties.

Free Y4 maths worksheet: Bar charts (pg 1)

Free Y4 maths worksheet: Bar charts (pg 2)

Mental addition and subtraction for year 4

Here is a real mixture of addition and subtraction questions which can all be answered mentally without resorting to written methods. The questions include adding 2-digit multiples of 10 to 3-digit numbers and subtracting 2-digit multiples of 10 from 3-digit numbers.

Interestingly, some of the addition statements can be answered by subtraction and some of the subtraction statements can be completed by addition. For example: 35 + ?? = 75 can be done by subtracting 35 from 75. An equally good method would be to add on in tens from 35 to 75.

In the same way 36 – ?? = 20 can be completed by adding on from 20 up to 36, or simply by subtracting 20 from 36. This all helps with understanding the relationship between addition and subtraction.

This set of worksheets, which because it involves both addition and subtraction is slightly harder than just dealing with one, can be found in the Year 4 addition category.

More addition and subtraction practice

 

Maths Investigation: Archery scores

Archery is usually organised as a knockout competition with the last two archers left going for the First and Second place medals.

The target consists of ten rings, made up of 5 colours. Points are scored depending on which ring the arrow lands. Arrows which land on the line are given the higher score. 10 points are rewarded for a Gold Inner, 9 for a Gold Outer, down to 2 points for a White Inner and one point for a White Outer.

This worksheet asks what possible scores can be achieved by landing all three arrows in the Gold Rings.

The second page asks what scores are possible if one arrow lands in Gold, one in Red and one in Blue. There are 8 combinations, with just four possible totals.

This could easily be extended to find other possible combinations.

This page is best suityed to Year3/4 children and can be found in our Year 4 Using and Applying Maths category.

Archery investigation (1)