Smoothie Stand Fraction Stories

Solve story problems by adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators.

Part 1: Blending smoothies

Read each story. Write the answer as a fraction.

Amara puts 3/8 cup of strawberries and 4/8 cup of blueberries in the blender. How many cups of berries does she use?

cup of berries

The bar shows one full pitcher of smoothie split into sixths. Ben pours 2/6 of the pitcher into one cup and 3/6 of the pitcher into another cup. What fraction of the pitcher does Ben pour in all?

of the pitcher

Leo uses 4/5 cup of yogurt for a mango smoothie and 3/5 cup of yogurt for a peach smoothie. How much yogurt does he use in all?

cups of yogurt

A jug of orange juice was 9/10 full. Rosa poured some juice into cups. Now the jug is 4/10 full. Which equation can you use to find how much of the jug Rosa poured?

A. 9/10 + 4/10 = ?B. 9/10 − 4/10 = ?C. ? − 4/10 = 9/10D. 4/10 + 9/10 = ?

Part 2: Selling and sharing

Solve each story. Draw a fraction bar if it helps.

The stand starts the day with 11/12 of a bag of ice. By noon, the class has used 7/12 of the bag. What fraction of the bag of ice is left?

of the bag

Kenji and Maya buy smoothies that are the same size. Kenji drinks 5/8 of his smoothie. Maya drinks 2/8 of her smoothie. How much more of his smoothie did Kenji drink than Maya drank of hers?

of a smoothie more

A banana smoothie needs 1 cup of milk. Omar has poured 3/8 cup of milk into the blender. How much more milk does he need to pour?

cup more

Sam makes fruit cups for the stand. Match each story to the equation that solves it.

Part 3: Think it through

Sort, choose, and solve. Then write your own story.

Each smoothie glass holds exactly 1 cup. Two pours go into one glass. Add the two pours. Sort each pair: will both pours fit in one glass, or is it too much?

10.

The stand has 1 full tub of frozen yogurt. In the morning, the class uses 5/10 of the tub. In the afternoon, they use 3/10 of the tub. How much of the tub do they use in all? How much of the tub is left?

Used in all: of the tub
Left: of the tub

11.

Nina pours 2/6 cup of pineapple juice and 3/6 cup of apple juice into a glass. She says there is 5/12 cup of juice in the glass. Which statement is correct?

A. Nina is right, because 6 + 6 = 12.B. There is 5/36 cup, because 6 × 6 = 36.C. There is 5/6 cup, because 2 sixths and 3 sixths make 5 sixths.D. There is 1/6 cup, because 3 − 2 = 1.

12.

Mr. Okafor pours 5/4 cups of pineapple juice into a big punch bowl. Then he pours in 3/4 cup of orange juice. How many cups of juice are in the bowl now?

cups of juice

13.

Write your own smoothie stand story that can be solved with 7/8 − 2/8. Then solve your story.