About This Worksheet
Operation Order is a fifth grade activity that asks students to evaluate numerical expressions by following the correct order of operations. Each problem includes more than one operation, and several also contain parentheses or brackets. Students must work inside the grouping symbols first and then continue in the correct sequence. This helps children understand that mixed-operation expressions are not solved simply from left to right without thinking about structure.
Curriculum and Grade Alignment
This worksheet is made for fifth grade learners who are beginning to work more independently with numerical expressions. The main goal is to help students follow grouping symbols and the proper order of operations when addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division appear together. Before using this page, your child should be comfortable with all four operations and understand what parentheses mean. The next step is writing and solving their own expressions from word statements. This activity supports expression evaluation, computational fluency, and mathematical structure.
Student Tasks
Students will solve ten expressions. The problems include examples such as 18 + (6 × 4), (45 − 17) + 4, 72 ÷ [3 × (8 − 2)], and more involved expressions with nested grouping symbols. Students simplify the part inside the parentheses or brackets first, then complete the remaining operations in order. This gives them repeated practice with increasingly complex expressions.
Common Challenges and Misconceptions
Some students may work strictly from left to right and ignore parentheses. Others may complete addition before multiplication simply because it appears first. A child may also become confused when brackets and parentheses appear together. Encourage your child to circle the innermost grouping symbols first and solve that part before doing anything else. Then move outward one step at a time.
Implementation Guidance
Teachers can use this worksheet after students have practiced basic mixed-operation calculations. It works well as a bridge into more formal order-of-operations work. Parents can have the child write one simplified line under each expression before finishing the problem. This makes the order easier to see and reduces skipped steps.
Details and Features
This worksheet includes ten green-bordered expressions in a two-column grid. Problems use addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, parentheses, and brackets. The difficulty gradually increases as students move down the page. The printable supports order of operations, grouping symbols, whole-number computation, and expression fluency.