About this worksheet
Adding and subtracting decimals requires students to align place values before combining or comparing amounts asks fifth graders to coordinate notation, calculation, and reasoning instead of applying a memorized step in isolation. Students may line up the last digit instead of the decimal point, which makes tenths combine with hundredths and produces a close-looking wrong answer. This worksheet rotates through short self-checking items so students practice the named skill from several angles. Students add decimals to hundredths, subtract with regrouping, find missing decimal addends, estimate sums, and solve measurement or money-style problems. Support versions keep numbers friendlier while preserving the same reasoning. Standard and challenge versions add closer choices, less familiar values, or an extra comparison step. Encourage your child to name the operation, place value, unit, or property before calculating. If an answer is close but uses the wrong place, denominator, operation order, or unit, it is the trap.
What your child will learn
- Line up decimal points
- Add decimals
- Subtract decimals
- Find missing decimal amounts
Worked example
To add 4.35 + 2.8, write 2.8 as 2.80, then add to get 7.15.
Common mistake
Stacking decimals by the last digit instead of by the decimal point.
Helpful hint
Rewrite decimals with the same number of places before calculating.
Worksheet 1