Build Fast, Accurate Addition Skills for 5th Grade Math

Addition itself is settled by now; what still trips students up is addition inside something else — decimals that must be lined up on the point, fractions that need a common denominator first, or a long expression where addition has to wait its turn behind multiplication. Practising plain sums at speed keeps the underlying facts free for that harder work.

Fifth grade moves from whole numbers to the rest of the number system: fractions with unlike denominators, decimals, percentages, and order of operations. Percentages are where arithmetic becomes visibly useful outside school, and the students who cope best are the ones whose basic facts are automatic enough to leave attention for the new structure.

5th graders are expected to add decimals lined up on the point and fractions with unlike denominators; after that comes adding decimals and fractions with unlike denominators.

Watch for lining decimals up on the last digit rather than on the decimal point.