Grade 4Matheasy
Order of Operations
Order of Operations — operations worksheet for Grade 4.
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What Your Child Will Learn
- Identify the correct sequence of operations (multiplication and division before addition and subtraction) in simple numerical expressions
- Solve multi-step arithmetic problems containing two or three operations by applying the order of operations rules correctly
- Apply the order of operations to evaluate expressions with parentheses, recognizing that operations in parentheses must be completed first
- Explain why the order in which we perform operations matters by comparing different solutions to the same problem
How to Use This Worksheet
- Step 1: Review the order of operations rules before starting. Remind your student that multiplication and division always come before addition and subtraction, and that operations inside parentheses come first of all.
- Step 2: Have your student read the first problem aloud and identify all the operations present (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division).
- Step 3: Ask your student to mark or circle which operation should be completed first according to the order of operations, then solve only that operation.
- Step 4: After completing the first operation, have your student rewrite the simplified expression and identify the next operation to perform, repeating until the problem is solved.
- Step 5: Check the answer together and discuss whether the order of operations was followed correctly. If incorrect, trace back through the steps to find where the order was not followed properly.
Tips for Parents & Teachers
Use the acronym PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication/Division, Addition/Subtraction) or remember 'Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally' as a memory aid. For Grade 4 easy problems, focus mainly on multiplication/division before addition/subtraction, and parentheses—exponents typically aren't included at this level.
Common mistake: Students perform operations from left to right without following order of operations rules. For example, they might solve 2 + 3 × 4 as (2 + 3) × 4 = 20 instead of 2 + (3 × 4) = 14. Emphasize that multiplication must happen before addition, even if the addition appears first in the problem.
Encourage students to use visual tools like circling or underlining the operations they'll do first. For problems with parentheses, have them solve what's inside the parentheses first, then rewrite the expression before continuing. This helps prevent skipped steps and careless errors.
Practice saying the steps aloud before solving. Having students verbally identify which operation comes first builds metacognitive awareness and helps catch mistakes early. For example: 'I see multiplication and subtraction, so I'll multiply first, then subtract.'
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do we need to follow a specific order of operations? Can't we just solve from left to right?
If everyone solved problems in different orders, we'd get different answers for the same problem! The order of operations is a rule that mathematicians all agreed to follow so that everyone gets the same answer. Think of it like following the rules of a game—everyone has to follow the same rules for the game to work fairly. For example, 2 + 3 × 4 equals 14 if we do multiplication first, but 20 if we do addition first. By following the order of operations, we know the correct answer is 14.
Do multiplication and division always have to come before addition and subtraction?
Yes! Multiplication and division are 'stronger' operations and always come before addition and subtraction, no matter where they appear in the problem. However, if multiplication and division appear next to each other, you solve them from left to right. The same is true for addition and subtraction—solve them from left to right when they're next to each other. But multiplication/division always beats addition/subtraction.
What do parentheses mean, and why do we solve them first?
Parentheses are like a 'box' that tells you 'do this part first!' Whatever is inside the parentheses gets solved before anything else. For example, in the problem (2 + 3) × 4, the parentheses tell us to add 2 + 3 first to get 5, and then multiply by 4 to get 20. Parentheses help us control which operations happen first, overriding the normal order of operations.
My child got the wrong answer but followed the order of operations. What went wrong?
Check for calculation errors in the individual operations themselves. Order of operations tells us *which* operation to do first, but we still have to compute it correctly. For example, if a student correctly identifies that they should multiply 7 × 3 first, but calculates it as 20 instead of 21, they'll get the wrong final answer even though they followed the order of operations correctly. Have your child double-check their arithmetic for each individual operation, not just the order.
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