Try it at home!

Near the end of the unit, ask your fifth grader to solve the following question:

A painter was painting a wall yellow. He painted \(\frac13\) of the wall yellow before being told he needed to paint the wall blue. At the end of the day, he was able to cover up \(\frac15\) of the yellow wall in blue. How much of the entire wall is blue?

Solution:

\(\frac{1}{15}\) of the entire wall is blue.

Questions that may be helpful as they work:

Can you draw a diagram to help you solve the problem?
What equation would you use to solve the problem?
Can you solve this using division or multiplication instead?

Sample response:

A diagram that shows \(\frac13\) of a rectangle shaded. Then the shaded third is divided into five pieces and one of those pieces is shaded darker.
\(\frac13 \times \frac15 = \frac{1}{15}\)
Yes, I can also solve using division: \(\frac13 \div 5= \frac{1}{15}\).

Grade 5 Unit 3 | Multiplying and Dividing Fractions | Family Support