Ministry of

Education

SAMPLE LESSON PLANS

STRANDS: Number,
Measurement, Geometry,
Statistics and Probability and
Algebra

© Ministry of Education 2011

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 Acknowledgements
The handbook, Sample Lesson Plans for Primary Schools, is a direct response by the ministry of
education to promote numeracy within the school for each teacher.

This book has taken a number of months to complete. The period of time has made it possible to
appraise and test the lessons using various strategies to ensure their efectiveness. The team of
persons who worked on this project have years of experience in the teaching and learning pro-
cess in the classroom. They have contributed to the intellectual stimulus which aids the successful
completion of this project.

an intellectual debt of gratitude is owed to these professionals. Therefore, the ministry wishes to
extend sincere thanks to all who initiated, planned and prepared this valuable document.
Special thanks to the Regional mathematics Coordinators for their invaluable contributions to the
development of these lessons. They undertook a most time-consuming and painstaking chore
of writing some of these lessons. They are: yashieka Blackwood-Grant, Warren Brown, Claudette
Henry-Harris, Davion leslie, Christopher Reynolds and leecent Wallace.

acknowledgements are also due to the team of mathematics Specialists for being creative in
identifying and developing mathematical activities that are applicable for use in schools. Their
eforts are greatly appreciated.

The ministry is grateful to the team of oicers from the Core Curriculum Unit of the ministry of
education for their priceless assistance, and to ms. Jean Hastings – Director of education Systems
Transformation programme (ministry of education) and Chairperson of the national Comprehen-
sive numeracy programme Committee.

In all these endeavours, it becomes manifest that “except the lord build the house, they labour
in vain that build it”. Therefore, the ministry’s personnel want to thank God for his sustenance
through the process.

finally, sincere thanks to all other persons whose names do not appear, but who made valuable
contributions to the development of the handbook.

Seymour Hamilton
national mathematics Coordinator
April 2011

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 Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................. 6
NUMBER 7
leSSon 01 – ordinal numbers ............................................................................................................................ 8
leSSon 02 – ordinal numbers ..........................................................................................................................11
leSSon 03 – place Value......................................................................................................................................15
leSSon 04 – addition with Renaming ...........................................................................................................19
leSSon 05 – Changing mixed numbers to Improper fractions ...........................................................23
leSSon 06 – addition with Renaming ...........................................................................................................26
leSSon 07 – fractions ..........................................................................................................................................30
leSSon 08 – fractions ..........................................................................................................................................33
leSSon 09 – Subtraction of fractions with Unlike Denominators.......................................................38
leSSon 10 – multiplication of Decimals by a Whole number ...............................................................41
leSSon 11 – multiplication of Decimals by powers of Ten .....................................................................44
leSSon 12 – multiplication of fractions by a fraction .............................................................................47
leSSon 13 – Division of fractions (with mixed numbers) ......................................................................51
leSSon 14 – addition of Decimals ..................................................................................................................54
leSSon 15 – Introduction to Ratios ................................................................................................................57
leSSon 16 – Ratio and proportion ..................................................................................................................60
MEASUREMENT 65
leSSon 01 – measuring and estimating liquid ..........................................................................................66
leSSon 02 – perimeter.........................................................................................................................................68
leSSon 03 – estimating mass............................................................................................................................71
leSSon 04 – metric Conversion........................................................................................................................74
leSSon 05 – area ...................................................................................................................................................77
leSSon 06 – Telling Time: minutes to the Hour ..........................................................................................79
leSSon 07 – area and perimeter......................................................................................................................84
leSSon 09 – Investigating Circumference of a Circle ...............................................................................87
leSSon 10 – Scale Drawing................................................................................................................................90

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 GEOMETRY 93
leSSon 01 – Shapes: Triangles and Rectangles ..........................................................................................94
leSSon 02 – paths .................................................................................................................................................96
leSSon 03 – lines of Symmetry .......................................................................................................................99
leSSon 04 – polygons ....................................................................................................................................... 102
leSSon 05 – Types of angles .......................................................................................................................... 105
leSSon 06 – Combining Geometric Shapes ............................................................................................. 109
leSSon 07 – line of Symmetry ...................................................................................................................... 117
leSSon 08 – Identifying Rectangles ............................................................................................................ 120
leSSon 09 – Sum of angles in Triangles .................................................................................................... 124
leSSon 10 – Regular and Irregular polygons ........................................................................................... 127
leSSon 11 – Introduction to Solids.............................................................................................................. 131
STATISTICS AND PROBABILITY 135
leSSon 01 – Selecting outcomes: Certain, Impossible, maybe......................................................... 136
leSSon 02 – Conducting probability experiments and Recording outcomes ............................ 140
leSSon 03 – pictographs ................................................................................................................................. 144
leSSon 04 – Sampling and population ...................................................................................................... 148
leSSon 05 – mean .............................................................................................................................................. 152
leSSon 06 – Bar Graph ..................................................................................................................................... 154
leSSon 07 – median .......................................................................................................................................... 159
leSSon 08 – Constructing Questionnaires................................................................................................ 162
leSSon 09 – Types of Graph (picture, line, Bar, pie)............................................................................... 166
leSSon 10 – Using Data to make predictions and Inferences ............................................................ 171
ALGEBRA 175
leSSon 01 – Identifying addends in addition problems ..................................................................... 176
leSSon 02 – Using algebra to Describe Relationships ......................................................................... 180
leSSon 03 – n-Sentences ................................................................................................................................ 186
leSSon 04 – Using algebraic Ideas to Solve problems ......................................................................... 188
leSSon 05 – Creating algebraic expressions ........................................................................................... 191
leSSon 06 – Generating number patterns ............................................................................................... 195

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 leSSon 07 – Substituting Values into expressions ................................................................................. 200
leSSon 08 – Solving Simple equations ...................................................................................................... 204
leSSon 09 – Creating algebraic expressions ........................................................................................... 207
leSSon 10 – Creating equations ................................................................................................................... 212
leSSon 11 – algebraic expressions ............................................................................................................. 215

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 Introduction
It is the start of the new school year and Mrs. Baxity is thinking about her new students and
the mathematics lesson she has to deliver. She will be meeting her students for the irst time,
but already has their performance data at hand. She has to teach ‘Number’, but is quite
puzzled. She is aware that she will need to deliver an effective mathematics lesson – one
that will heighten students’ interest, build computational luency and develop their skills to
reason and solve problems.

most classroom teachers will admit they have had an experience similar to mrs. Baxity’s; planning an
efective mathematics lesson can be challenging. In light of the varying learning styles of students, it
is of paramount importance that lessons are designed to meet such diverse needs and to maximize all
students’ learning.

mathematics should be taught through processes which focus on modelling, communication, connec-
tions, reasoning, proofs and problem solving. Such processes should be considered when planning to
teach a lesson in any of the mathematics strands: number, Geometry, measurement, algebra, Statistics
and probability. efective teaching requires the development of students’ cognitive abilities; students’
learning occurs most eiciently when they are aforded rich experiences through a student-centred, ac-
tivity based approach. efectively employing such an approach requires careful planning of lessons.

This handbook is designed to provide teachers with lesson planning ideas for the teaching of mathemat-
ics at the primary level. It features a set of sample lesson plans for each of the ive content strands of the
Revised primary Curriculum: number, Geometry, measurement, algebra, Statistics and probability. les-
sons have been included, per strand, for each GRaDe leVel so that teachers of all grades in the primary
school may glean ideas for improving their lessons.

The lessons are written using a “three-part” model: STaRTeR aCTIVITy, maIn aCTIVITy and plenaRy.
appropriate aSSeSSmenT activities are also included. The STaRTeR aCTIVITy is intended to awaken stu-
dents’ interest in the TopIC to be taught. Some of these activities may also be useful in assessing students’
mastery of the prerequisite concepts and preparing them for the TopIC to be delivered. The maIn
aCTIVITy is the key teaching point of the lesson and usually entails students discovering some new
idea through their engagement in carefully planned activities. The plenaRy acts as the summary for
the lesson and cements the TopIC taught.

The lessons included in this handbook are meant to be a guide for the teacher in selecting learning
objectives and corresponding teaching strategies for attaining these objectives. The order in which les-
sons are presented in the handbook is not to be taken as a model for sequencing the teaching of various
concepts. each lesson is to be considered on its own. While complete lessons are presented, the writers
are aware that there are various formats for lesson plan writing. Teachers are therefore free to modify the
lessons according to the accepted lesson plan format for their school and the abilities and interests of the
students. Care should be taken however to ensure that all the critical elements of the lesson plan are
maintained.

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 NUMBER

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 LESSON 01 ❍ ORDINAL NUMBERS
SUB-TOPIC: Identifying ordinal numbers
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 1
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE
By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
l use the ordinal numbers irst, second, third, through to ifth

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already:
a) have knowledge of number names and their symbols up to 10
b) be able to count in order up to 10
MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
picture, number cards, word cards, objects from the environment

CONTENT OUTLINE

l an ordinal number is a number that states the position of an object in a sequence.

l The symbolic representations of ordinal numbers are formed by combining the corre-
sponding cardinal number and the last two letters of the ordinal number name.
l note the pattern:
o first is written by combining 1 and st to produce 1st
o Second is written by combining 2 and nd to produce 2nd
o Third is written by combining 3 and rd to produce 3rd
o fifth is written by combining 5 and th to produce 5th

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
l The entire class will be taken outside in a controlled area. Several items (such as a leaf, a stone,
a stick, a bottle cover, or a bottle) will be strategically placed for ive students to ind. all ive
students will return to the starting point with the objects.

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 Main Activity

l The ive students who participated in the race will be asked to line up in the order in which
they returned to the starting point. The class will be asked to explain why each child was
placed in his or her respective position. Through further discussion, the concept of irst, sec-
ond, third, fourth and ifth will be established.

l The students who participated in the race will be given cards with the names of their posi-
tions. five other students will be given cards with the numbers 1 to 5. They will be asked to
stand beside their “partner” already in line. each pair of cards will be placed on the chalkboard.

l Children attach ordinal number cards to the irst 5 positions in race.

l The class will be engaged in discussions to ascertain if they can write symbolic representa-
tions for ordinal numbers. Students will then be selected to write the symbols for ordinal
numbers irst to ifth on the chalkboard.

PLENARY

Students will observe the picture below which depicts a 100m inal. They will listen while the
teacher reads the story, “The Race”, recorded below. The students will be later engaged in a dis-
cussion about the outcome of the race.

The Race
Marlon and John are the fastest
runners at Hope Primary School.
They were very excited as it was
Sports Day and they would both
compete with each other in the i-
nal race of the day. The gun went
of and the boys started running.
Members of their houses were
cheering as they knew either
boy would win. As the race pro-
gressed, the cheering slowly died
down, as Paul, a tall unpopular boy, ran past the other boys as they approached the inish
line. Everyone was surprised to see that Paul won the race, outpacing Marlon who came
second and John who came third. They both started crying. James, who always inished
last, was very happy because he was fourth.

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 ASSESSMENT

Divide the class into groups of 5. To each group, randomly distribute pre-prepared 2-sided cards
with the ordinal number symbol on one side and its ordinal number name on the other side (each
group gets a set of cards with ordinal numbers 1st/irst to 5th/ifth). Instruct students to order
themselves based on the position on the card they receive.

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 LESSON 02 ❍ ORDINAL NUMBERS
SUB-TOPIC: Sequencing
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 1
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson students should be able to:
l apply ordinal number concepts to real-life situations

l use the terms "before" and "after" correctly in relation to ordinal numbers

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already:
a) have knowledge of number names and symbols
b) have basic knowledge of ordinal numbers
c) have knowledge of the names and order of the days of the week and the months of the year

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Coloured chalk, calendar, name cards (days of the week and months of the year), picture story
cards

CONTENT OUTLINE

l an ordinal number is a number that states the position of an object in a sequence.

l The symbolic representations of ordinal numbers are formed by combining the cor-
responding cardinal number and the last two letters of the ordinal number name. for
example:
o first is written by combining 1 and st to produce 1st.

o Second is written by combining 2 and nd to produce 2nd.

o Third is written by combining 3 and rd to produce 3rd.

o Twelfth is written by combining 12 and th to produce 12th.

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 PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
l The students will observe a sequence of three actions demonstrated by the teacher. The class
will then list the actions performed in order.
o Touch your head (irst), stand at attention (second), and hop (third)
o These will be written on the chalkboard and used to play “Simon says”
for example, the command “Simon says third action” would be given and students would be
required to hop. Teacher will indicate the time allotted for this activity.
Main Activity
l Students will be asked to read or say the months of the year as the teacher points to the
words on her chart.
l five students will be asked the months in which they were born. They will be given a card on
which their birth month is written. Teacher will pose the following questions to the class:
a) Whose birthday comes irst?
b) Whose birthday is last?
c) Whose birthday is third?
d) Whose birthday comes after ______?
e) Whose birthday comes before _____?
l The chalkboard will be divided into two columns. In one column the ordinal numbers 1st, 2nd,
3rd ... 12th will be written. The other column will be labelled “months of the year”. The students
will be asked the following questions in the stated order. once the correct answer for a ques-
tion is received the student who provided the answer will be given a name card to place on
the board beside the relevant position.
a) What is the third month of the year?
b) Which month comes before the third month?
c) Which month comes after the third month?
d) Which month comes before the second month?
e) What is the ninth month of the year?
f ) Which month comes before the sixth month?
g) Which month comes after the sixth month?

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 PLENARY
Students will be asked to pick cards from a box with the months of the year written on them. They
will place them on an interactive chart with slots that are labelled 1st month, 2nd , 3rd, etc. This will
be followed by a discussion about the students’ placement of the cards.
ASSESSMENT
Students and teacher will read the nursery rhymes (“Jack and Jill” and “little miss mufet”) from a
chart, multimedia, etcetera, so that they are reminded of the sequence of events in the stories.
The students will be placed in groups and each group given a set of picture cards. The task is to
arrange the cards in the correct order to tell the story. In addition, questions related to the stories
will be given. (These questions are listed below at end of the two picture stories.)

JACK AND JILL

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 Little Miss Mufet

a) What happened irst?

b) What happened after. . . (miss mufett saw the spider) (Jack fell down)?
c) What happened before… (she saw the spider) (Jack and Jill got the water)?
d) Describe the third picture.

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 LESSON 03 ❍ PLACE VALUE
SUB-TOPIC: Understanding place value
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 2
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
l use concrete materials to group objects to illustrate tens and ones

l use symbols (numerals to represent groups of tens and ones)

l identify the place value of digits in a two-digit base ten numeral

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already know:
a) how to count from 1 to 100
b) how to count in twos and threes

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Interlocking cubes, die, organizational mats, counters (bottle caps, fudge sticks, etc.)

CONTENT OUTLINE
place value is the position of each digit in a number. The place value of each digit in a num-
ber increases in powers of tens, from right to left. In a two digit number, there are two place
values, Tens and ones.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
place students in groups of four and provide each group with one of the following sets of coun-
ters:
y 14
y 19
y 21
y 26
y 30
y 43
Instruct students to form as many groups of ten as possible using the set given.
each group should report results.

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 Main Activity

The whole class will observe as the teacher uses an organizational mat to show the following
numbers: 21, 18, 62 and 55.

Children will be provided with counters (cubes, bottle caps, etc.)

Working in pairs, students will take turns to toss a die. for example, mike tosses the die and gets
a 6; he counts out 6 cubes and places them in the ones column. mike tosses again and gets a 5;
he counts out 5 and places them in the ones column. He notices that he can exchange a group of
10 cubes for 1 ten with one remaining. The trading game continues until all the cubes that were
provided are used up.

Tens Ones

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 PLENARY
Hundred Chart Activity
Using mini-hundred charts, students will be asked to shade the numbers according to clues given
to them. The numbers that are shaded on their mini-hundred chart should form a design.

examples of clues to be given to students include:

a) mark the numbers with ‘4’ in the tens place and ‘8’ in the ones place.
b) mark the numbers with ‘6’ in the tens, and ‘2’ in the ones place.
c) mark the numbers with ‘5’ in both places.

note Decide on a design and provide the additional clues as required. Example,
to teacher: circle the number which has 2 in the tens place and 3 in ones place.

HUNDRED CHART

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70

71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

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 ASSESSMENT
Students will be given a place Value Worksheet to complete.

PLACE VALUE WORKSHEET

1. Write the number that has a ive in the ones place and a three in the tens place.

The number is :___________

2. a) What is the place value of each digit underlined in the numerals below?

52 67 98

The plaCe ValUe is: _______ _______ _______

b) Students will be shown diagram of articles in tens and ones and asked to write
the numeral to represent these. E.g. Ten ishes plus one ish gives ______. (expected
response is 11.)

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 LESSON 04 ❍ ADDITION WITH RENAMING
SUB-TOPIC: Adding whole numbers with a sum less than one hundred
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 2
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
l add a two-digit number to a one- or two-digit number with or without renaming

l solve problems requiring the addition of two-digit numbers with or without renaming

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already:
a) have a clear understanding of the ‘ten make one’ aspect of the base ten system
b) have a basic understanding of addition facts
c) know how to count and identify numbers up to 99
d) be familiar with correct representation of two-digit numbers on place value chart
e) be familiar with base ten materials

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Base ten materials, problem wheel, card with ‘mental starter’, chart with story

CONTENT OUTLINE
l addition is the combination of two or more sets
l Renaming is necessary when a sum of ten or more is obtained.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
–What is the message?
Solve each addition problem and, using the code below, write the corresponding letter on the
line and decode the secret message.

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 Main Activity

l manipulatives will be placed on the desks – longs (one group of ten), and ones – while stu-
dents work at the mental starter. each child should be given ten longs and thirty ones.

l Review tens and ones using the story below.

Note: The story will either be written on the board before the class begins or on a chart,
so that teacher and students can read it together

Jack and Jill were on their way to school. They stopped at a shop, Jack bought 24 marbles and
Jill bought 8.

Students will use manipulatives to show Jack’s marbles and Jill’s marbles.

Jack’s marbles 24 = 2 tens 4 ones

Jill’s marbles 8 ones

Students will be asked the following questions:

– How many groups of ten and ones are in the group of marbles Jack bought?
– How many marbles did they buy altogether?

l Give the children time to investigate and use their own strategy to arrive at the answer.
Collect the answers and ask individual students to explain how they arrived at their answer.
Represent some of these strategies on the board.

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 l Select the strategy where students trade ten ones for one long for further discussion to bring
out renaming as shown below.
l Through questioning, students will be guided to realize that the problem 24 + 8 can also be
written as
l The use of the columns will be facilitated to make a connection to what was practically done.
In this method, the ones column is irst added. If there are ten or more ones, we trade ten of
them for a long as shown above.

l The 2 tens are now increased to 3 tens. The remaining ones, in this case 2 ones, are written
under the ones column.
l Problem Wheel – a wheel is to be created with eight sectors. each sector of the wheel will
contain a simple addition story problem.
l Working in pairs, students will take turns to spin the wheel. With the use of lats and longs
they will model and solve the story problem indicated by the pointer.

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 PLENARY
engage students in a discussion about the need for renaming when adding two-digit numbers.
Suggested questions include:
l When does it become necessary to rename?

l Can you think of some addition problems where renaming would be necessary (or not

necessary)?

ASSESSMENT

each child picks a problem from a grab bag and provides a solution utilizing lats and longs.
Students could use blocks to represent solutions in at least two diferent ways.

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 LESSON 05 ❍ CHANGING MIXED NUMBERS TO IMPROPER FRACTIONS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 3
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
l identify mixed numbers
l write mixed numbers as improper fractions

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should possess knowledge of:
a) the four basic operations on proper fractions
b) the concept of fraction (how many halves, thirds, fourths, etc. make up the whole)
c) types of fractions (improper, mixed, proper)

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
fractional pieces (two sets of fractional pieces), fraction bingo, worksheet

CONTENT OUTLINE
l an improper fraction is a single fraction that is more than a whole, which is expressed
with the number representing the numerator being larger than the number represent-
ing the denominator. example 5/3.
l a proper fraction is a single fraction that represents an amount that is less than the whole,
which is expressed with a numerator that is smaller than the denominator. example 2/3 .
l a mixed number consists of a whole number and a proper fraction example 12/3.

PROCEDURE
Oral/Mental Starters
l Students will be given pairs of colour coded cards with cues such as bun, cheese, bread,
butter, adam, eve, etc. one colour will represent numerator and the other colour will rep-
resent denominator. The cards will be designed with numbers to give an improper fraction
when matched. Students will be asked to ind their partner and read the improper fraction
formed.

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 Main Activity
l Students will be placed into groups. each group will be given a diferent number of fractional
pieces representing diferent fractions, e.g. thirds, fourths, ifths, etc. as revision. each group
will then be asked to use their fractional pieces to make as many wholes as possible.
for example, students with thirds could make 1 whole with three thirds.
l The students will be asked to explain their models. Example: How many pieces did you begin
with? How many wholes were made? How many were left over? How would you call this frac-
tion? How would you write it? What represents the numerator, denominator, and the whole?
(emphasis must be placed on identifying the three parts: whole number, denominator and
numerator.) I had 4 thirds which is the same as 11/3.
l Students will be given other fractional pieces. They will be led into counting the number of
each fractional piece that they have and then writing these in words on the board. example:
one group has eight thirds, another ive halves, and another nine ifths. They will then assem-
ble them into wholes and fractional parts and be required to write the mixed number form of
the fractional pieces given.
For example:

7 parts modelled and the size of each part is one-fourth, therefore this is written as improper frac-
tion seven-fourths written as 7/4 which is the same as 13/4 as a mixed number.

l Using the diagram below, students will be guided through questioning to seeing and under-
standing that the total number of parts used is the numerator, and the size of each part gives
us the denominator.

Questions

1. How many parts are shaded in the three shapes below? (Expected response 11)
2. What is the size of each part? (Expected response fourths)
3. Which represent the numerator and which represent the denominator?
4. How would you write this as a fraction? (Expected response 11/4)
5. How many wholes are there? (Expected response 2)
6. How many fourths are remaining? (Expected response ¾)
7. How would you write this as a mixed number? (Expected response 2¾)

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 PLENARY
Students in groups will explain in their own words how to write a mixed fraction from a model.
This will be organized as notes for students.

ASSESSMENT
The teacher will guide students in a bingo game (matching Three)

Rules
l The teacher will display a card showing a model of a mixed number
l If the mixed number is on a student’s game card, he or she may cover it
l The irst player with three in a row calls out “BInGo”
l That player reads out his or her covered numbers for the teacher to check. If correct, the game
is over and a new game will begin.

Sample Bingo Card

1 1 1
3— 2— 3—
5 4 5

1 2 1
2— 1— 2—
3 5 2

3 3 5
2— 3— —
5 4 4

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 LESSON 06 ❍ ADDITION WITH RENAMING
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 3
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
l add whole numbers up to six digits

l solve problems which require the use of addition

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already be able to:
a) add numbers without renaming
b) rename up to thousands
c) identify the value of each digit in a number up to four digits
d) understand addition
MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Dienes blocks (lats, longs and units), abacus, worksheets, cards with problems

CONTENT OUTLINE
l The decimal system is based on a ‘ten make one’ relationship. each place value is ten times
greater (or less) than the place to its right (or left).
l addition is an operation on two or more numbers that gives a sum greater than each of
the addends.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
Students will create palindromes from numbers that are not palindromes without renaming.
These numbers will be given to the students. examples: 123, 12 and 53. This is to review addition
without renaming.

Note: Palindromes are numbers that are read the same way forward or backward.
Example: 444 or 282.

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 The Activity

Step 1: Write a given number

Step 2: Write the reverse of the number

Step 3: add the numbers together. If the result reads the same in either direction it is
called a palindrome

for example, 123 + 321

123 321

+ 321 + 123
444 444

Main Activity

l Students in groups will be given base ten pieces (lats, longs and units) and cards with the
same problems. (all groups will be given the same problem.)

The irst problem will be done as follows:

Sandy bought 478 toys and Kim bought 637 toys. How many toys did they buy altogether?
a) Students will read the problem.
b) Students will write number sentence representing the problem (478 + 637).

l Students will represent the problem on a place value chart or abacus and solve using their
base ten pieces (Dienes blocks).

Thousands Hundreds Tens Ones

4 7 8

6 3 7

1 1 1 5

15 ones = 1 ten and 5 ones

11 tens = 1hundred and 1 ten
11 hundreds = 1thousand 1 hundred

l The other problems will be done similar to the example used above.

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 PLENARY

engage students in a discussion about the need for renaming when adding numbers. Suggested
questions include:

l When does it become necessary to rename?

l Can you think of some addition problems where renaming would be necessary (or not
necessary)?

ASSESSMENT

Play Addition Relay Game

place students in teams of no more than seven. The irst person in each team will complete the
irst problem on the worksheet. Then he/she will pass the worksheet and a pencil to the next per-
son in his/her row. This will continue until all problems are sequentially completed by the team.

Rules of the Game

l each player must contribute to the team by working a problem when it is his/her turn.

l Discussion of answers should only be done after the game.

l The team that inishes irst with the most correct responses will be the winner.

Students will discuss their challenges and share their successes/attempts.

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 WORK SHEET

1. 2 341
+ 7 662
answer:

2. Tony has $17,052 in his bank account. His brother mark has $23,459. How much do they
have altogether?
answer:

3. 2 935
+ 3 765
answer:
4. 5 460
+ 5 939
answer:

5. 5 772
+ 5 432
answer:

5. John has 4,375 marbles. His brother gave him some more marbles, and he now has 4,500
marbles. How many groups of 25 marbles should he add to his original number to get
4,500 marbles?

answer:

6. a baker baked 567 loaves of bread. another baker baked twice as many. How many did
they bake altogether?

answer:

7. There were 2,325 football fans in the national Stadium for the game on friday night. on
Saturday there were 3,627 fans. What is the total number of football fans that came to
both games?

answer:

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 LESSON 07 ❍ FRACTIONS
SUB-TOPIC: Addition of fractions with unlike denominators
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 4
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
l apply equivalence to the addition of fractions

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already
a) have a conceptual understanding of a fraction
b) have an understanding of equivalent fractions
c) be able to Identify ‘like’ fractions
d) have an understanding of multiples
e) be familiar with the use of fraction pieces

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
fraction pieces

CONTENT OUTLINE
addition of two or more fractions is the combination of the fractions which results in a sum
that is greater than the addends. To add fractions with diferent denominators, the concept
of equivalence is applied so that all the addends can have a common denominator.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
l Students will be placed in groups to play a game ‘fraction match Up’.
o each group will be given a stack of cards face down, each card bearing diferent fractions
o Students will take turns to lip cards leaving the lipped card face up on the desk
o on recognizing two fractions that are equivalent, a student will yell ‘match up’ and take
the pair

Rule: One student will be designated in each group as a judge. The judge will be given the
answer card with all possible pairs. Children are allowed three wrong answers before
being eliminated from the game.

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 Main Activity
l Students will remain in groups and will be given a problem:
Mary has half of a chocolate and John has a third.
How much chocolate do they have altogether?
l Using fraction pieces, students will model the problem. Students will be questioned in order
to ascertain the problems they have with adding the two fractions and then they will generate
conjecture on how they could solve the problem. (example is given below using a diagram.)

l It is possible that in modelling the problem students will join the pieces in an attempt to rep-
resent the solution as illustrated below.

l Students will be questioned to ind out what name could be given to the fraction formed.
They will then be guided through a process of itting smaller fraction pieces (for example,
sixths, eighths, etc.) exactly over the sum. The aim is for the students to identify how many
pieces of which fractional part will it exactly over the sum.

l Students will then determine the number of smaller parts that cover each fraction in the
addends. for example, in the illustrations above, 1/2 is equivalent to three sixths and 1/3 is
equivalent to two sixths. Through questioning, students will highlight the relationship
between the denominators in the addends and the equivalent fractions formed.

l Students will be given the following additional problems to solve using the method described
in previous steps:

1 1 2 + 1
a) — + — c) — —
3 4 5 2
1 1 2 5
b) — + — d) — + —
5 2 3 6

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 PLENARY
In journals, students will describe how to add fractions with unlike denominators.

ASSESSMENT
Students will remain in groups and each group will be given a set of questions to model using
fractional pieces. In solving the problems they will try to rename the addends using equivalent
fractions with common denominators. Groups will share their eforts with the class.

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 LESSON 08 ❍ FRACTIONS
SUB-TOPIC: Applying equivalence to addition and subtraction of fractions
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 4
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
l apply the concept of equivalence to the addition of fractions

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already have:
a) a conceptual understanding of a fraction
b) an understanding of equivalent fractions
c) the ability to Identify ‘like’ fractions

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
multiplication tables, plain paper, crayons and fraction cards (cards with fractions written on them)

CONTENT OUTLINE
one method of adding fractions with diferent denominators is to rename the fractions by
applying equivalence, so that the fractions to be added have the same denominator.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
l Students will play the game ‘equivalent hopscotch’. a diagram of the regular hopscotch will
be drawn in which teacher will place fraction cards. The fractions will be strategically
placed so that at least four of them are equivalent to the one that the teacher will highlight.

The aim of the game is to hop only on those which are equivalent. fractions may be replaced for
each round.

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 ⁶⁄₂₄ ⁸⁄₁₂

⁴⁄₁₂

⁵⁄₂₀ ⁶⁄₉

⁴⁄₁₆

³⁄₁₂ ⁴⁄₆

²⁄₈

²⁄₃

¹⁄₄

Main Activity
Using two fractions from the hopscotch, 2⁄₃ and ¹⁄₄ , students will be provided with pre-cut, equal
sized rectangles to represent the two fractions. Vertical lines will be used to divide one rectangle
to show thirds while horizontal lines will be used to divide the other rectangle to show fourths as
illustrated below.

2⁄₃ ¹⁄₄

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 l Students will be instructed to modify their drawings so that each third is divided into quarters
and each quarter is divided into thirds as illustrated below.

⁸⁄₁₂ ³⁄₁₂

l Through questioning, students’ attention will be drawn to the number of equal parts that
both rectangles are divided into, and they will also see that the new fractions formed are
equivalent to the original addends.

l Students’ attention will be drawn to a multiplication table placed on the chalk board. With
teacher’s help students will be led to observe patterns of equivalence on the chart. The
students will be guided to see how they could use the pattern of equivalence on the multi-
plication chart to solve addition of fractions with diferent denominators.

l The multiplication table will allow students to identify a common multiple of the denomina-
tors. This will be done by identifying one denominator in a row and the other denominator in
a column, thereby locating a number where a pointer would point if moved downward and
across (as indicated below).

l Students will then identify a pair of equivalent fractions that have this common denominator.

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 multiplication Table

1 2 3 4 5 6

2 4 6 8 10 12

3 6 9 12 15 18

4 8 12 16 20 24

5 10 15 20 25 30

PLENARY
Students will be engaged in an activity in which a house will be drawn on cartridge paper and
placed on the chalkboard. This house will have some pockets (for example doors, windows, roof )
where problems involving addition of fractions with diferent denominators will be placed. each
group will be given a card with the solution to one of the problems. as a group, the students will
work the problems in the slots to identify the correct slot in which to place their solution.

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 ASSESSMENT
Students will solve the following addition problems using either the multiplication table or
rectangular grid. Students will share solutions with class.

a) John has two thirds of a cake; mary gave him another one ifth of the same size cake. How
much cake does John now have?

b) paul’s friend ate three eighths of a pizza and Sue ate one third of the same pizza. How much
of the pizza was eaten?

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 LESSON 09 ❍ SUBTRACTION OF FRACTIONS WITH UNLIKE DENOMINATORS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson students should be able to:
l subtract proper fractions with renaming

l solve problems which require operations on fractional numbers

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already
a) have knowledge of multiplication of whole numbers
b) have a conceptual understanding of fractions
c) be familiar with equivalent fractions
d) have knowledge of comparing and ordering fractions

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVE
fraction pieces, fraction charts, blank papers, crayons, and chocolate bar

CONTENT OUTLINE
Subtracting fractions with diferent denominators includes rewriting each fraction with a
common (same) denominator. This involves inding an equivalent fraction with the same de-
nominator to represent the fractions to be subtracted.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
Students will be arranged in pairs. each pair will be given a diagram of a proper fraction. at the
teacher’s instruction, each pair will move about to ind matching equivalent fractions. following
this activity, the students will share what they have observed about equivalent fractions.

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 Main Activity
l Students in their groups will be given a fraction kit, containing a whole, halves, fourths,
eighths, twelfths. Teacher will ask the following questions:
0 How many fourths make a whole?
0 How many halves make a whole?
0 What is another fraction for two quarters?
l Similar activity will be done with the other fractions.
l Students will be guided into inding common fractional pieces to represent both ³/₄ and ¹/₃
to get ⁹/₁₂ and ⁴/₁₂. Students will show other fractions as equivalent fractions using fractional
pieces.
l Students, as whole class, will then be given the problem situation below and will be guided
through the steps of subtracting fractions using the fractional pieces:
Mr. Smith needs to move half of the library books into the library’s new addition.
Yesterday he moved ¹/₅ of the books. What fraction of the books does he still need to move?
Using fractional pieces, the students will be guided through the following task:

1 1
– – –
2 5

l Students will be asked to tell what they noticed about the denominators of the fractions in
1 1
( )
the problem – – – . (They are not the same denominator)
2 5
l Students will be asked to identify from their fraction kit, a piece that can represent each
fraction
l Students will be guided into inding common fractional pieces to represent both 1/2 and 1/5
to get 5/10 and 2/10 respectively
l Therefore, the new question becomes 5/10 - 2/10 = 3/10

PLENARY
Students will be placed into two groups and asked the following questions in competition
format. The group to score 10 points irst will be the winning team; 2 points will be given for
suitable responses.
a) Using fraction pieces, what is the diference between ⁵/₆ and ¹/₄ ?
b) What must be done to fractions with unlike denominators before we subtract?
1 2
c) explain how to ind equivalent fractions for — and — .
2 5

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 ASSESSMENT
Students will be asked to use the appropriate fraction pieces to assist them in determining the
diference for the following fractions:
1. a)

________ minus _________ = _______

b)

________ minus _________ = _______

c) _______ minus _______ = 1

–
5
5 1
– and – ?
2. a) Without using the fraction pieces, what is the diference between 6 2
b) Is — − — less than, equal to, or greater than 1
15 4
–?
16 5 2
3. find the diference for the following:

3 1
a) — −—
8 8
1 1
b) — −—
2 6
3 3
c) — − —
2 4
3 5
– hour for a mathematics test while Janet studied – hour. Who
4. natalie studied 4 6
studied longer? How much longer?

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 LESSON 10 ❍ MULTIPLICATION OF DECIMALS BY A WHOLE NUMBER
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
l ind the product of a whole number and a decimal number with no more
than 3 decimal places

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already know:
a) place value up to thousandths
b) multiplication of whole numbers
c) addition of decimal numbers
d) how to represent decimals using hundred grid

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Base ten models: tenths, hundredths and thousandths grid, crayons, calculators

CONTENT OUTLINE
multiplication is an operation that involves combining equal sized groups.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters

l Teacher will draw a 2 × 1 multiplication template on the board for students to copy.

✕
l Teacher will roll a die three times. after each roll students will decide in which box they will
place the number rolled in order to obtain the smallest (or largest) product possible.

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 Main Activity

l Students will work in pairs to shade given decimal numbers (less than 1) on grid paper.
Example: Shade grid paper to show 0.20

l Students use another colour to shade 0.20 a second time.

l Students will continue to work in pairs to show the value of 2, 3 or 4 groups of 0.20. Students
will write mathematical sentences to represent operation done.

l Given a blank grid, students will be asked to shade 0.25 of the grid; they will also be asked to
shade another 0.25 using another colour. To ensure that students understand the use of the
grid in multiplying decimals by whole numbers, teacher will ask the following questions:

o How many squares in all are shaded?

o How could this be found using addition?

o How could this be found using multiplication?

o What would be 3 x 0.25?

l Students will be placed in groups of ive. each group will be given a diferent multiplication
problem to model on large letter sized grids:

a) 4 × 0.45 b) 3 × 0.39 c) 4 × 0.35

d) 5 × 0.29 e) 3 × 0.43 f) 4 × 0.38

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 PLENARY
each group will mount its solution on the wall for a class discussion. possible questions for
discussion are:
l What challenges did you encounter?

l Why were two grids used?

l Can you think of questions that would require three grids?

ASSESSMENT
assessment will be continuous throughout the lesson using the following checklist:

Checklist

Areas Yes No Comments

Were students able to shade the grid

correctly?

Were students able to model multiplication

questions on the grid?

Were students able to identify multiplica-

tion problems represented on a grid?

Were students able to use two grids when

necessary?

Were students able to identify solutions

using the grid?

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 LESSON 11 ❍ MULTIPLICATION OF DECIMALS BY POWERS OF TEN
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson students should be able:
l to multiply a decimal number by 10, 100, 1000

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already know how to:
a) represent place value up to thousandths
b) multiply whole numbers by 10, 100,1000
c) model decimals on grid paper

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Calculators, dice and place value chart

CONTENT OUTLINE
When a number is multiplied by ten, each digit in the answer becomes ten times larger, and
therefore its position shifts one place to the left on the place value chart. Similar conclusions
can be drawn about multiplying by 100 and 1000.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
Students will be engaged in a game entitled ‘circles and stars’. In this game, students will work
in pairs and will use two dice of diferent colours to multiply numbers. one colour will represent
the number of circles to be drawn and the other colour will represent the number of stars to be
drawn in each circle. each pair will play ive rounds. The pair of students whose products give the
larger sum after three rounds is the winner.

Main Activity
l Students will be asked to use their calculators to evaluate the following:

o 478 × 10
o 478 × 100
o 478 × 1000

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 They will then record their answers in the table below.

Hundred Thousands Ten Thousands Thousands Hundreds Tens ones multiply by

4 7 8

10

100

1000

l Discuss the following questions:

 What happens to the digits in the number 478 when you multiply by:
• 10?
• 100?
• 1000?

l Teacher will ensure that students understand that when a number is multiplied by ten, each
digit in the answer becomes ten times larger, and therefore its position shifts one place to
the left on the place value chart. Similar conclusions can be drawn about multiplying by 100
and 1000.

l Students will be asked to use their calculators to evaluate the following:

 3.58 × 10

 3.58 × 100
 3.58 × 1000
They will then record their answers in the table below.

Thousands Hundreds Tens ones Decimal point Tenths Hundredths multiply by

3 5 8

10

100

1000

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 l The class will have a discussion to help the students realise:

a) that, like before, the digits in the answer move to the left as they become larger by powers
of ten
b) that each time the number becomes ten times larger, a zero is placed at the end

l Students will be asked to complete the following without using the calculator:

Thousands Hundreds Tens ones Decimal point Tenths Hundredths multiply by

6 0 1

10

1,000

100

l Students will be asked to complete the following number sentences:

a) 6.01 × 10 = __________
b) 6.01 × 1,000 = __________
c) 6.01 × 100 = __________

PLENARY
Students will be asked to make a journal entry on how to multiply decimal numbers by powers of
ten.

ASSESSMENT
Complete the following multiplication sentences:

a) 5.003 × 100 = _________

b) 0.03 × ______ = 30

c) 20.20 × 1,000 = _________

d) _____ × 100 = 34.5

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 LESSON 12 ❍ MULTIPLICATION OF FRACTIONS BY A FRACTION
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
l ind the product of two fractional numbers less than 1
l solve problems which require operations on fractional numbers

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already:
a) have a conceptual understanding of fractions
b) know the process of deriving equivalent fractions
c) be able to add and subtract fractions

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
fraction pieces, fraction cards, blank transparencies

CONTENT OUTLINE
multiplying a number by a fraction involves dividing a number into equal pieces and taking
out a speciied number of equal pieces. multiplying a number by ¾, for example, requires that
the number be divided into 4 equal pieces and 3 of these parts be taken out for consideration.

Mental/Oral Starters
l Students will play the “I Have, Who Has” game. Cards will be distributed as students are
engaged in answering and asking questions.
Example:

I have 1 I have ½ I have ¾ I have ⁵⁄₉

Who has 1 ÷ 2? Who has 3 ÷ 4? Who has 5 ÷ 9? Who has 2 ÷ 7?

I have ²/₇ I have ⁴/₅ I have ⁷/₁₁ I have ⁵/₂

Who has 4 ÷ 5? Who has 7 ÷ 11? Who has 5 ÷ 2? Who has 10 ÷ 3?

I have ¹⁰/₃ I have ³/₈ I have ¹¹/₁₀ I have ⁶/₂₀

Who has 3 ÷ 8? Who has 11 ÷ 10? Who has 6 ÷ 20? Who has 9 ÷ 9?

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 l Teacher will cut card along the lines. each card will be folded and placed in a bag/box. each
student will randomly select one piece.

l any student can start the game by asking the question on their card. The person with the cor-
rect answer will respond by saying, “I have…, who has…?” (Students should say the fraction
name, for example, "a half", and noT "one over two".)

l The game ends when it reaches the student who started the game.

note: The game may be extended to any number of cards desired.

Main Activity

l Students will be given the problem task below to write number sentence.

Problem Task:
In Andrea’s garden, ³/₈ is planted with lowers, and ²/₃ of that lower section has red roses.
What fraction of the entire garden is planted with red roses?

l Students will be guided by teacher in using an area model to solve the problem

3 2
—X —
8 3

l Students will be placed in groups of ive to shade a rectangle (or square), partitioned vertical-
ly, to represent ³/₈ (shown in red) and each group will be given another rectangle (or square),
partitioned horizontally, to represent ²/₃ (shown below in blue on transparency).

l Students will be guided into superimposing the two squares to show the product of the 2
fractions to be ⁶/₂₄ or ¹/4 .

N.B. Teacher will ask students appropriate questions to help them to

recognize that the area that is double-shaded represents the product

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 l Students will be asked to work independently to record the previous activities in their note-
books, using the fractional pieces as a guide to the appropriate fractional parts. Students will
be guided into multiplying one proper fraction by another.

PLENARY

Students will be asked to explain in their own words how to multiply fractions with and without
models.

for example, what is the product of ¹/₂ and ⁴/₅ ?

answer: ⁴/₁₀

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 ASSESSMENT

Complete the following problems:

1. Write a multiplication sentence for each picture.

a)

b)

2. find the product of the following:

a) ⁶/₁₁ × ⁴/₉

b) ²/₃ × ⁹/₁₀

3. Draw rectangles showing the products of the following:

a) ¹/₄ × ⁴/₅
b) ²/₃ × ⁵/₈

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 LESSON 13 ❍ DIVISION OF FRACTIONS (WITH MIXED NUMBERS)
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson pupils will be able to:
l use models to represent division of fractions
l accurately solve division problems that involve fractional numbers

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Pupils should be able to:

a) identify and name fractions

b) recall division and multiplication facts
c) subtract fractions
d) multiply fractions
e) reciprocate fractions

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Strips of paper, rulers, deck of card

CONTENT OUTLINE
In a division problem, the number that is divided is called the dividend while the number that
divides the dividend is called the divisor. The number of times the dividend is divisible by the
divisor is called the quotient. (The quotient tells us how many times the divisor can be sub-
tracted from the dividend). The reciprocal is the same thing as inverse of a number.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters

The ‘Cardy fractions’. Students will be placed in pairs and each pair will be given a set of cards with the
prime numbers from 2 to 19. each student will be asked to select a card from the set. Both num-
bers selected will be used to form an improper fraction. Students will be required to convert the
improper fraction formed to a mixed number. The irst pair to successfully convert three improper
fractions to mixed numbers will be declared winner.

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 Main Activity

l Students will be given strips of paper to solve the problem below.

Miss Ruby the dress maker has 3⁵/₈ meters of cloth that she wants to cut into ¹/₂ meter lengths.
How many ¹/₂ meter lengths of cloth will Miss Ruby have?

l a sample model may be

l Divide the pieces in halves.

l Students and teacher will discuss the previous activity using the following guided questions:
0 How many halves will miss Ruby get from her 3⁵/₈ metres of cloth?
0 What is the relationship between ¹/₈ and the divisor? (¹/₈ is ¹/₄ of the divisor, which is 1/2).
0 Use fraction pieces to establish this relationship.

Note: Students should realize that there are 7 halves in 3 ⁵/₈. There is also ¹/₈ left, which is ¹/₄
of the divisor. Therefore, there are 7 ¹/₄ halves in 3 ⁵/₈. Miss Ruby will have 7 complete
¹/₂ metre lengths of cloth.

l Students will work in pairs using fraction pieces to model two problem situations posed to
them, and write a mathematical sentence that represents the situation.

Problem 1
My jug holds 1/2 l of water. I have a cup that holds 1/4 l. How many times can I ill the cup from my
jug?

n.B. Teacher will monitor the students working on the task and ask the same type of guided ques-
tions when students appear to be struggling with how to represent the situation.

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 Problem 2

Richard has 3½ cups of raisins to make rock buns. The recipe uses 1/3 cup of raisins in each batch.
How many batches of rock buns can Richard make?

Richard can make 10½ batches of rock buns.

Note: Write the number sentences on the chalkboard after each situation, noting the
relationships among the numbers in the number sentence. Have students look for
any patterns or relationships they note in the number sentences.

PLENARY

Students will be asked to make a journal entry on how to use rectangles to model division of
fractions.

ASSESSMENT

1. mr. Williams has a half of a container of ice cream and wants to divide it into one-cup serv-
ings to share with the students in my class. a cup is one-sixteenth of the container. How many
cups would he get?

a. Use diagrams to model the worded problem.

b. Write a number sentence and show how to solve the problem

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 LESSON 14 ❍ ADDITION OF DECIMALS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson students, should be able to:
l Solve problems involving addition of decimals, using appropriate models

l use money related problems in addition of decimals

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already know:
a) place value concepts for decimal numbers
b) addition facts of whole numbers
c) addition of fractions
d) rounding of decimals to 1, 2 or 3 places

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
a die, grid paper, pencil, ruler, and base ten blocks (or any other representatives of tens and ones)

CONTENT OUTLINE
Decimals are fractions with denominators expressed in power of ten.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
The teacher will draw 6 horizontal line segments on the board, and strategically place a decimal
point between any two lines. The last line will be called the reject line. Teacher will toss die six
times and, after each roll, students will record the number on a line – trying to form the largest (or
smallest) possible decimal number. Students will place an unwanted number on the reject line

Example

___ ___ ___ . ___ ___ Reject ____

at the end, students will be asked to call the number they have formed. The student with the
largest or smallest number will be the winner.

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 Main Activity
Group Activity 1: Addition of decimals using lats and longs or the interlocking cubes
l Students will be placed in groups and given a problem task to model the information using
lats and longs to determine the answer.

Example: Using the interlocking cubes or blocks, add 5.4 + 2.3.

l Students will be guided to use blocks to answer the following questions:

Kevin wants to buy a new ball that costs $56.70. He had $13.20 in his savings pan. Today, he put
$25.10 in his savings pan.
a) How much money does Kevin have in his savings pan now?
b) How much more money does he need in order to buy the ball?

Group Activity 2: Addition of decimals using Hundred Grid Sheet

l Students will be assigned Task 2. They will use a hundred grid sheet to determine the answer.
l Students will shade the corresponding decimal number on 10 x 10 grid paper to represent
each value.

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 Task 2
Sandra has $0.64 and John has $0.52.

a. How much money do they have altogether?

b. If they used their total amount of money to buy one marble, how much would it cost them to
buy three similar marbles?

Solution for part a.

Note: Students will count each square to ind out the total squares that are shaded. Students
would recall that ten one tenth equal ones. Therefore by counting they will get 116 one
tenth which is equal to 1.16.

PLENARY
Students will be selected at random to share what they have learnt as it relates to the SpeCIfIC
oBJeCTIVeS of the lesson.

ASSESSMENT
1. find the sum of 12.4 and 0.863
2. What is the total cost for a patty costing $110.50 and an orange juice costing $72.80?
3. add together $253.76, $512.1 and $7.536

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 LESSON 15 ❍ INTRODUCTION TO RATIOS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 6
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
Students should be able to:
l express similar quantities as a ratio
l write a ratio using diferent forms (1:5, 1 to 5, ¹/₅)

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should be able to:
a) form equivalent fractions
b) simplify fractions
c) perform the four basic operations on fractions
d) use and interpret Venn diagrams

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Counters (fudge sticks, marbles, etc.)

CONTENT OUTLINE
l a ratio is a multiplicative comparison of two quantities or measures.
l multiplying or dividing a ratio results in an equivalent ratio.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
Students will be shown pictures of the same object but one picture will be proportionately larger
than the other. Through guided discussion, students will state the similarities and diferences
between the pictures, thereby capturing a multiplicative comparison. Students will be asked to
give examples of other real life situations in which a multiplicative comparison can be seen – for
example, maps of countries, plans for buildings, models, etc.

Main Activity
l Twelve students will be randomly selected and placed into two groups based on gender.
other members of the class will count the number of boys and girls and their indings will be
recorded on the chalkboard in the form no. of boys : no. of girls. The class teacher will then
explain that this is the method used to express ratios.

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 l Teacher will engage the students in a discussion to ascertain what they know about the con-
cept of ratio. The teacher will write the ratio for the previous activity on the chalkboard, for
example: 4 boys and 8 girls, the ratio would be (4:8, 4 to 8, and 4/8).

l Questions will be asked to guide students into understanding the concept represented; that
is, to every 4 boys there is a match of 8 girls. Using the same example, teacher will ask the
students:

0 how many boys will match with 16 girls?

0 How many boys will match with 4 girls?

Based on discussion, students and teacher will complete the following table:

Boys Girls

4 8

? 16

20 ?

l Students will then be asked to tell what they did to arrive at their answers.

l Students will then be asked to group themselves according to houses, tally the number of
students in each house and then write the ratio of number of students in their house to the
number of students in other houses.

For example, no. of students in blue house: no. of students in red house, and so on.

y Students will be placed in mixed ability groups and assigned diferent types of counters
(fudge sticks, marbles, etc.) to reinforce the concept of ratio. They will then be asked to record
all the diferent ratios they can ind from the manipulatives that they were assigned. each
group will be asked to make a presentation of their indings.

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 PLENARY
each group will be required to select a question from a ratio question box. for example:
l What is a ratio?

l Give an example of how ratio is used in real life

l If for every three green bananas there are two ripe bananas, how would you write this as a

ratio?
Individual groups will then be required to share their responses with the whole group.

ASSESSMENT
Some students in a class like watching TV while others like playing video games. Some do not like
any of these activities. The Venn diagram below shows this information.

from the Venn diagram above, write down at least 5 ratios about the students in the class.

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 LESSON 16 ❍ RATIO AND PROPORTION
GRADE: Grade 6
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
Students should be able to:
l write equivalent ratios for a given ratio

l solve problems which require the use of equivalent ratio

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should know:
a) the concept of ratio
b) how to form equivalent fractions

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Colour coded counters

CONTENT OUTLINE
l part-to-whole – ratios can express comparisons of a part to a whole, example the number
of male teachers to the total number of teachers in a school; number of mangoes to num-
ber of all fruits in a basket. fractions are also part whole ratios.
l part-to-part ratios – a ratio can be expressed as one part of a whole to another part of the
same whole: for example, the number of mathematics teachers in the school can be com-
pared to the number of english teachers, the number of students in Blue House compared
to the number of students in Red House.
l a proportion is an equation stating that two ratios are equivalent.

4
Example: — 12
= —
6 18

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 PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
Students will be given a description of a fruit basket consisting of varying number of apples,
plums and cherries. Teacher will guide students in answering questions such as:
How would you compare
1. the number of apples to the number of plums?
2. the number of apples to the total number of fruits?
Students will write diferent ways in which these comparisons can be expressed.

Main Activity
l Students will be placed in groups and each group will be given twenty red and twenty blue
counters. each group will be asked to model examples of ratio.
l Students will be asked to model a speciic ratio, for example 2 blues to 6 red. They will then be
asked to predict the number of blue counters required to complete the ratio, if the number of
red counters were doubled. Students will use their counters to model the number of counters
required to complete the given ratio. The teacher will discuss students’ responses.
l Teacher and students will have a discussion about proportion. Students will then write in their
own words what is their understanding of a proportion.
l The groups will be given a predetermined number of yellow and blue counters. They will be
required to form equivalent ratios. for example, one group will be given 3 yellow counters
and 4 blue counters. They will then be given six yellow counters. The students will be required
to determine the number of blue counters that are needed to ensure that the two ratios are
equivalent. each group will be required to give a mathematical defense of their answer.

PLENARY
The students will remain in their groups. They will then be given the following problem to solve:
If it takes four cups of water and one cup of syrup to make a jug of drink,
how many cups of water and how many cups of syrup do we need to make
a) 3 jugs of drink?
b) 4 jugs of drink?
c) 5 jugs of drink?

ASSESSMENT
Students will be given the following worksheet to solve the problems:

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 WORKSHEET ON RATIO
Grade Six
The information below shows the amount of each item that was sold by a restaurant between
8:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.

24 18 6 4 16 12

Items Cost

Tea $30.00 per cup

Cofee $40.00 per cup

Cola $60.00 per cup

milkshake $35.00 per cup

Biscuit $20.00 per pack

Cake $50.00 per slice

1. Write down the ratio in the simplest terms for each of the following:

a) number of biscuits to number of slices of cakes sold

Ratio______________

b) the cost of the tea to cost of biscuits

Ratio______________

c) the number of colas to the number of milk shakes

Ratio______________

d) The cost of the tea to the cost of the total slices of cake
Ratio______________

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 e) The total cost of all items sold to the total number of items
Ratio______________

f ) What proportion of the total cost was tea?

proportion________________

g) What proportion of total sales was drinks?

proportion________________
2. Jeremy’s school bag contains 3 videocassettes, 4 crayons, 7 books, and 2 pencils. find the ratio
of:
a) books to videocassettes Ratio______________
b) pencils to crayons Ratio______________
c) books to videocassettes to pencils Ratio______________
3. a Toyota car factory made 40 sports cars with a sunroof and 20 sports cars without a sunroof.
What is the ratio of the number of cars without a sunroof to the number of cars with a sun-
roof?

4. forty students have vanilla ice cream and 6 students have cherry ice cream. What is the ratio
of the number of students who have vanilla ice cream to the number of students who have
cherry ice cream?
5. Complete the ratio table:

8 3
16 6
24
32
40 15

6. fill in the missing number to complete the proportion: 5

—=—
8 40

7. find the unit rate:

50 plants in 5 rows = per row

8. Winston measured his father’s chicken house and made a scale drawing. The wall, which is 50
metres long in real life, is 5 centimetres long in the drawing. What scale did Winston use?

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 9. Here is a picture of mr. Tall and mr. Short

mr. Short is six paper clips in height. If he is measured in large buttons he is four large buttons in
height. mr. Tall is similar to mr. Short but is six large buttons in height.predict the height of mr. Tall
in paper clips. explain.

Note: Some of the questions can be given as homework activities.

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 MEASUREMENT

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 LESSON 01 ❍ MEASURING AND ESTIMATING LIQUID
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 1
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
After engaging in the activities in this lesson, students should be able to:
l state the unit used to measure liquid
l identify containers that hold approximately one litre
l use the litre measure to identify containers that hold more than, less than, about one litre,
two litres, three litres, etc.

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already:
a) be able to read and write numbers
b) have knowledge of fractions

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
empty liquid containers of various capacity/sizes, containers with water.

CONTENT OUTLINE
The basic unit for measuring liquid is litre. examples of liquids measured in litres are water,
drink, oil.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
The teacher will place a container with water on a table (more than half full). Students will be
asked to say how much water they think is in the container (expected answers: a lot, half or an-
other fraction, etc.) Students should recognize that they cannot tell/describe exactly how much
water is in the container.
The teacher will use this opportunity to establish the need for a standard way of measuring liquid.

Main Activity
l Students will be shown four bottles of diferent sizes and shapes, each containing 1 litre of
water. Students will be asked if they think the liquid in all bottles measure the same. after
students respond, they will be permitted to test by pouring the liquid from each into a stan-
dard litre measuring cup/bottle. They should realize that all measurements are the same

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 although the bottles are diferent sizes and shapes. The teacher will use this opportunity to
introduce the term litre.
l place students in groups of 4. Give each group a 1-litre measuring container. Create a station
in one corner of the room where various containers with water are placed. Students will iden-
tify which of these containers are most likely to contain 1 litre of water. They will also sort the
other containers into two groups: those less than a litre and those more than a litre. examples
of containers include:
o tied bags of various sizes
o large and small bottles
o a bucket
o cups of various sizes
l Discuss groups’ estimates for each container. Where necessary, use the litre measuring cup to
verify whether a container holds 1 litre.

PLENARY
l engage students in a discussion about the situations in which they are most likely to use
about 1 litre of water:
o brushing their teeth
o drinking after a meal
o having a bath
o watering the garden
o helping mommy/daddy to wash their car

ASSESSMENT
Give students drawings of the following household items and ask them to use their crayons to
colour code them to show those that can hold less than (red) or more than (blue) 1 litre:

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 LESSON 02 ❍ PERIMETER
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 3
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
l explain the meaning of perimeter

l measure the perimeter of various objects and polygons

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Before doing this lesson, students should already know:
a) the basic units of length
b) how to use the ruler, tape measure, and metre stick
c) how to add or subtract simple measurements which use whole numbers of metres or
centimetres
d) about plane shapes
e) how to round of to the nearest whole number
f ) about the concept of regular and irregular igures

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Strips of paper, thumb tacks/paper clips

CONTENT OUTLINE
perimeter is the measurement of the entire length of the edge, boundary or rim of a regular or
irregular igure.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
l Draw a large model of a football ield/netball court on the loor in the classroom or any con
venient and available space (use tape if desired to mark out the model).

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 l Discuss with students what they understand the word “outside” to mean as is used in football/
netball, etc. ensure that students appreciate that the boundaries of the ield/court determine
when the ball has gone outside the playable area.
l Tell students that another word for the boundaries of the ield/court is perimeter. Have a few
students walk around the boundary to establish the idea that perimeter of the ield/court is
the distance around it.

Main Activity

l place students in groups of 4. Give each group 4 paper clips or thumb tacks as well as two
pairs of strips of cartridge paper, strawboard or cardboard.
l Tell each group to use the strips of paper and the thumb tacks or paper clips to make a rec
tangle as shown below:

l Instruct students to measure and write down the length of each side of the rectangle created
in their group.
l Have each group remove one thumb tack/paper clip from the rectangle to create a straight
line with the pieces of cardboard/cartridge paper (shown below).

l Discuss with students what is represented by the straight line that they now have. Tell stu-
dents to determine the total length of the straight line (either by measuring or by computing).
l Have students then re-form their rectangles and state their perimeter. Discuss with students
how they were able to determine the perimeter of the various rectangles. Draw some of these
rectangles on the board and discuss their perimeters.
l Give each group a diferent number of pieces of paper (from 5 to 9 pieces). Have each group
form a polygon using the pieces of paper that they receive and determine its perimeter.

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 PLENARY
l Discuss with students:
0 the meaning of the term “perimeter”
0 the steps that must be taken when inding the perimeter of a shape

ASSESSMENT
Have each group present the polygon that it has formed and its perimeter. Discuss these with the
class to ensure accuracy.

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 LESSON 03 ❍ ESTIMATING MASS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 3
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
y identify the appropriate unit, kilogram or gram for given measurement situations
y estimate the mass of various items

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already:
a) know how to read a kitchen scale
b) know the deinition of mass
c) be familiar with the weight of 1kg

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Kitchen scales, items to be weighed

CONTENT OUTLINE
The standard unit of mass is gram (g). The estimation of mass is a comparison of the mass of
an item to another that is known. The known mass becomes the point of reference to make
an estimate.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
Create 5 stations (labelled a – e) in the class with 6–7 items in each station. place the students in
5 groups and assign a group to each station. one item in each station must be exactly 1 kg; some
items must be more than 1 kg and others less than 1 kg. ask students to order the items in their
assigned station in terms of their mass. encourage students to lift each object that they have in
order to estimate its mass. Instruct each group to record the order in which they have placed the
items (see estimate Record Sheet below).

Main Activity
y Keep students in their groups at the stations and discuss the idea of mass, its standard unit of
measure and the various instruments (scale, beam balance, etc.) used to measure it.
y Have each group change stations leaving the items behind for another group to order. once
again, they record the order on the capture sheet below. This continues until all the groups

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 have had a chance to interact with the items in each station and have returned to their origi-
nal station.
y Use a table on the chalkboard to discuss, verify and correct the orders created by each group.
ensure that there is consensus by using a balance scale where disagreement exists about a
particular order.
y Tell students that at each station there is an item with a mass of 1 kg; ask them to identify
which item this is. Verify this for students and discuss other items from their experience that
weigh about 1 kg.
y Remind students that 1kg = 1000g and instruct them to use the 1kg as a benchmark to esti-
mate the mass of each of the other items at the station. Discuss with students which items are
to be estimated in grams and which in kg. Give each group a kitchen scale and allow them to
complete a table as follows:
Item Estimated Mass Actual Mass

PLENARY
Discuss the results from each station. Centre discussion around the following questions:
y Can you think of examples of items that have mass less than a kilogram/more than a kilo-
gram?
y When is it appropriate to state the mass of an item in grams versus kilograms?

ASSESSMENT
Instruct students to combine various items in their stations to give the following mass (or to come
as close as possible)..
y 2 ½ kg
y 3 kg
y 3.6 kg

Note: You may need to change the mass depending on the items used in
each station. Items may be reused.

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 LESSON 04 ❍ METRIC CONVERSION
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 4
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
l convert from metric unit to another
l explain the relationships among the units having the preixes centi-, milli-, kilo- and the
main unit metre
l use the terms cm, mm, etc. in problem solving activities

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Before doing this lesson, students should already have knowledge about:
a) measuring length using a metre stick:
b) identifying fractional relationships
c) identifying diferent units of measurement
d) place value

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
metre strips, metre stick, centimetre rulers, interlocking centimetre cubes/centimetre strips

CONTENT OUTLINE
length is the distance between two points and it is measured according to some standard or
reference. In the metric system, the standard measure of length is the metre. The most com-
mon metric units of length used are the kilometre (km), the metre (m), the centimetre (cm)
and the millimetre (mm).
These units of length are related as follows:
l 1000 millimetres = 1metre

l 100 centimetres = 1 metre

l 1000 metres = 1 kilometre

Since one hundred centimetres is equivalent to a metre, then a centimetre is a fraction of a

metre.
( 1
)
—— a decimetre is 1/10 of a metre and a millimetre is 1/1000 of a metre.
100

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 PROCEDURE
Oral/Mental Starters
a student will be selected to walk from one end of the classroom to the other by taking “giant”
steps. The class will make note of the number of “giant” steps taken. The same student will then be
asked to walk the same distance by taking “baby” steps. The class will note the number of “baby”
steps taken.

The teacher will engage the students in a discussion by asking the following questions:
i. How many “baby” steps make a “giant” step?
ii. How many “giant” steps make a “baby” step?
iii. How many “baby” steps would be equivalent to twice as many/thrice as many “giant”
steps?

Main Activity
each group of 4 or 5 students will be given strips measuring 1 metre, 1 decimetre, and 1 centimetre.
l Students will use the strips to determine the relationships among the pieces.
l Students will use the information obtained to complete the following:
__ cm = 1 m, __m = 1 cm
__ cm = 1 dm, __dm = 1 cm
__ dm = 1m __m = 1dm
l engage students in a discussion about the relationship between the standard unit (the metre)
and the other units, emphasizing the meaning of the preixes.
l Students will be asked to use the strips to measure the heights of the tallest and the shortest
person in each group and to state their heights in the form:
i. __ m, __dm, and __cm.

ii. __m and __cm

iii. __dm and __cm

iv. __ cm.

l each group will present their indings for class discussion.

PLENARY
each group will be asked to state one metric relationship observed in the lesson.

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 ASSESSMENT
In their notebooks, each student will be asked to write each of the following heights
a) 264 cm
b) 783 cm

in the forms:
i. __ m, __ dm, and __ cm.

ii. __ m and __ cm

iii. __ dm and __ cm

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 LESSON 05 ❍ AREA
SUB-TOPIC: Measurement
GRADE: Grade 4
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, students will be able:
l to measure area using unit squares

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already have:
a) knowledge of area as space covered up by an object
MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Various grids, square tiles

CONTENT SUMMARY
area refers to the number of square units needed to cover a region.

PROCEDURE
Oral/Mental Starters
Draw a "boat" (shown below) on the board.

To each group of 2 students, distribute two or three 6 × 6 grids. persons in each group play
against each other by taking turns to colour tiles to create "boats" on the same grid. The person
who is able to shade the greater number of "boats" is the winner (use diferent designs/colours
to diferentiate between the two players). "Boats" can be turned in any direction but must retain
their original design. allow children to play a few times and count up the number of squares that
they shaded in order to determine the winner.

Main Activity
y Give each group of children about 40 square tiles – each tile should it exactly over a square
on the 6 × 6 grid that students were working with from starter activity. ask students to say
how many square tiles would completely cover the 6 × 6 grid.

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 y Discuss students’ responses, pointing out that the answer (36 square tiles) represents the area
of the 6 × 6 grid.
Have each pair of students:
0 determine the area of the shaded portion of their grid
0 determine the area shaded in each design
0 the area of the unshaded portion
y Show students a picture of a “car”

y Give each pair of students a few copies of the grid below

y Tell students that they are to take turns to colour ”cars” in an efort to determine who could
shade the greater number of cars before running out of space on the grid.
y Discuss the following questions:
0 What is the area of the octagonal shape?
0 What is the area of the shaded area of the octagon?
0 What is the area of the unshaded area of the octagon?
0 What is the area of each portion shaded in diferent designs?

PLENARY
engage students in a discussion about:
y the meaning of the term area
y the process of inding the area of a shape

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 ASSESSMENT

place students in groups of 5 – 6. provide each group with a large copy of the grid shown above.
Tell them that it represents the loor of a living room and that the squares represent loor tiles.
Have students colour the tiles on the living room to indicate where they will place the following
pieces of furniture:
Two chairs A TV stand

A piece of rug A centre table A computer desk

at the bottom of the grid, write the following questions for students to answer:
1. What is the area of the loor of the living room?
2. What is the area taken up by the pieces of furniture?
3. What area is left unoccupied by furniture?

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 LESSON 06 ❍ TELLING TIME MINUTES TO THE HOUR
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 4
DURATION: 45 minutes

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
y read and write time using the minute to hour format

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Before doing this lesson students should already have:
a) knowledge of telling time on the hour and past the hour
b) knowledge of the number of minutes in an hour

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Clocks, worksheets, game cards

CONTENT OUTLINE
There are sixty minutes in an hour. The display of digital clocks is in the format “hour : minute”.
The display tells us how many minutes after the hour. However, the time can also be stated in
the format “_ minutes to the hour”. By subtracting the number of minutes that have elapsed
from sixty we know how many more minutes will pass before the next hour begins. for ex-
ample, the clock below shows 12:45.

12:45
The time can also be read as ifteen minutes to one.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
Create many pairs of cards with numbers that add up to 60 (such as 32 and 28; 14 and 46). Give
each student a card and instruct them to ind their partner whose card number when paired with
theirs adds up to 60.

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 Main Activity
y The teacher will start with an analogue clock displaying 3 o’clock. The teacher will turn the
hands of the clock instructing students to tell her to stop when the time is closer to 4 o’clock
than 3 o’ clock. Discuss students’ responses, ensuring that they understand that as soon as the
minute hand passes 3:30, the time is closer to 4:00. Tell students that any time that is after 3:30
can be stated as ___ minutes to 4.
y a student will be selected to model 3:46 on the clock. The students will be asked the following
questions:
1. What time will it be when the minute hand reaches 12?
2. How many more minutes will it be before the minute hand reaches to the 12?
3. How many minutes to 4 o’clock is it now?
The teacher will guide students in counting up to the hour in order to answer the third ques-
tion.
each group will be given a worksheet to complete.
They will be asked to supply missing times to match times in column a with those in Column B.

WORKSHEET

GRoUp:_______ DaTe:______________________

GRoUp memBeRS:___________________________ ________________________________

______________________________ ________________________________

______________________________ ________________________________

fill in the missing times so that the times stated in Column a is the same as the times in
Column B. The irst one is already done for you.

Column A Column B
1. 12: 47 13 minutes to 1 .
2. 3:51 __minutes to ___.
3. 7: 38 ___minutes to ____
4. __:___ 26 minutes to 9.
5. ___:___ 19 minutes to 2
6. 9: 39 ___minutes to ___

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 PLENARY
The class will play a game of “I have _, who has_?” each student will be given one of the pre-
prepared cards such as the ones shown below. The irst person will read his/her card. The person
holding the card corresponding to the prompt will read his/her card next creating a chain until all
cards have been read.

Note: The cards should not be distributed in seating order as the aim is to have students
recognize the times based on the prompt and not simply to read cards based on the
order of seating.

SAMPLE GAME CARDS

ASSESSMENT
The students will work in their groups to play a game of “Time Concentration”. each group will be
given a set of cards such as the ones shown below. They will be instructed to place all cards face
down. Taking turns they will turn over cards two at a time and match the time with the clock face.
If the pair of cards they turn over matches, they will be allowed to keep the pair and turn over
another pair. However, if the pair of cards does not match, they will have to replace the cards
and wait until it is their turn again. The student with the most pairs at the end of the game is
the winner.

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 SAMPLE TIME CONCENTRATION CARDS

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 LESSON 07 ❍ AREA AND PERIMETER
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
y solve problems based on computing the measurement of the area of a rectangular region
y compare and contrast units of length and units of area

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already have knowledge of:
a) length, area, perimeter
b) how to calculate the perimeter and the area of a given (2-dimensional) igure

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Square tiles, match sticks, cartridge paper and grid paper

CONTENT OUTLINE
perimeter is the measurement of the boundary of a igure or area. The measurement inside
the object is not considered for perimeter. perimeter is used in everyday life activities such as
calculating the amount of material needed for fencing, waist size, and so on. The perimeter of
a circle is called the circumference.
area is the amount of space inside the boundary of a lat (2 dimensional) object such as a rec
tangle or a triangle. area is measured in squared units. area is used in everyday life by tilers,
painters and other skilled workers.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
Students, in groups, will be given ive square tiles and asked to arrange them to form the largest
possible perimeter. Students will be told that tiles should be joined side-to-side, but should not
enclose an open space. Students will be told that tiles should be joined side-to-side, but should
not enclose an open space. Discuss the various shapes, drawing students’ attention to the fact
that while the area of each shape is the same, their perimeters are diferent.

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 Main Activity
y Students will be presented with the following problem:
A farmer has a rectangular goat pen which uses 24m of fencing. One night, during a storm the
goat pen was destroyed. The farmer wants your help to rebuild the goat pen. What are the pos-
sible dimensions of the pen? Remember he has only 24m of fencing. How long or wide should
the pen be, so that his goats have the largest area of grass possible to eat?

y Students should use 24 matchsticks (each representing 1 m) to try and create diferent models
of the goat pen, e.g. 1 × 11, 2 × 10, 3 × 9, etc. Students should also draw the models created
on grid paper.
y Students will then be guided in creating a table to relect the following attributes of the
models created – length, width, and distance around (perimeter)

Dimensions length Width perimeter

1 × 11 1 11 24

y Students will be asked to determine which model would be best in ensuring that the goats
have the largest area of grass to eat. Students will be asked to justify the reason for their selec-
tion by sharing the strategy used to arrive at this conclusion – for example, counting tiles or
using the formula for area of rectangle.
y Students will then be asked to complete the table by inserting the area of the diferent
models created.
y Students and teacher will then discuss the observation that while the perimeter of each shape
remained the same, their areas varied.

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 Rectangle length Width perimeter area

1 × 11 1 11 24

PLENARY
Students will make journal entries in response to the following questions:
y What happened when the perimeter was ixed?
y What do you notice about the dimensions of the goat pen as its area gets larger?

ASSESSMENT
Students (in groups) will be given 12 square tiles or 20 square tiles. each should represent a rec-
tangular area of grass on a farm.
y What are the possible dimensions of these farms?
y Which possibility will require the most/least fencing?
y What conclusions can be drawn about the farms that required the most fencing?

Note This is an extension activity for students to investigate rectangles having a ixed area
to but diferent perimeters as the dimensions are altered.
teacher:

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 LESSON 08 ❍ INVESTIGATING CIRCUMFERENCE OF A CIRCLE
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 6
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
y identify the relationship between circumference and diameter
y investigate the concept of pi (π)

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should have knowledge of:
a) parts of a circle
b) basic units of length

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
String, cord, tape measure, circular cut-outs (these can be constructed by teacher so that they
have more precise diameter which represents a multiple of seven), circular objects – for example
compact discs, lids etc. (ensure that the centre points of the circular objects are clearly deined),
scissors, calculator.

CONTENT OUTLINE
a circle is a plane igure with ininitely many points equidistant from a ixed point called the
centre. Circumference is the perimeter of a circle. That is, circumference is the distance around
the circle. The diameter of a circle is the chord that runs through the centre of the circle. pi is
the relationship between the circumference and the diameter of a circle. The circumference of
any circle is approximately 3 1/7 times the diameter. The universal formula for circumference
is pi multiplied by the diameter.

PROCEDURE
Mental/ Oral Starters
y Using a teacher’s compass or string and chalk, draw a large circle on the classroom loor or
paved area outside. allow a few students to walk heel-to-toe along the diameter and record
the number of steps. allow them to now walk along the circular edge. engage a discussion in
terms of estimating the relationship between the circumference and the diameter.
y ask the question: “What do you think is the relationship between the diameter of the circle
and its circumference?” Students can pose a hypothesis: "I think that the circumference is... the
diameter".

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 Main Activity
y place students in groups. Give each group a circular object or a cut-out of diferent sizes,
string (long enough to get the length of a diameter and circumference), a ruler / tape mea-
sure.
y allow students to measure the diameter of their object/cut-out with the string. Students
should cut the length of the string which represents the diameter and measure this length
with the ruler.
y allow students to use another piece of string to measure the length of the circumference and
cut of this length. measure the length of string which represents the circumference along the
ruler.
y ask the questions:
– “Which is greater in length?”
– “How many times longer than the diameter is the circumference?”
– “How can we prove this?”
y allow students to use the length of the string which represents the diameter to measure the
circumference, noting the number of times the length of string which represents the diameter
can be obtained from the circumference.
y Teacher will guide each group in comparing the remaining piece from the circumference to
the length of the diameter. Discuss how many times the remainder could be taken out of the
diameter. Guide students into expressing this as a fraction.
y Discuss the following questions:
o How many times can we get the length of the diameter out of the length of the circum-
ference? (explain to students that this ratio is called pi)
o Does this happen for all the circular shapes?
o Does the size of the circle afect pi?
o How much of the diameter does the fraction (small piece remaining) represent?
o Is it half of the length of the diameter?
o Is it greater/ less than a half?

PLENARY
Discuss the question: What formula can now be used to calculate pi?

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 ASSESSMENT
Use the relationship between diameter and circumference to estimate the circumferences (in
Column y) that most closely correspond to the given diameters in Column X.

Column X (Diameter) Column y (Circumference)

7 cm 29 cm

9 cm 42 cm

11.5 cm 16 cm

3.5 cm 22 cm

13 cm 35 cm

5.2 cm 11 cm

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 LESSON 09 ❍ SCALE DRAWING
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 6
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
y interpret a simple scale drawing and calculate actual distances using the scale of a road
map or loor plan

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Before doing this lesson students should have knowledge of:
a) ratio (including metric conversion)
b) similar shapes
c) equivalent fractions

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Copies of a simple map showing a school campus; a sheet of letter sized paper; diagram of three
tall buildings of varied sizes; ½ sheet cartridge paper with cm grid and a small 5cm print of a
house on it (one per group).

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 CONTENT OUTLINE
a scale drawing is a drawing of an object/place in which all measurements are changed
proportionately. a map cannot be of the same size as the area it represents. So, the measure-
ments are scaled down to make the map of a size that can be used

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
Students will be shown 4 diferent sizes of the same photograph. Discuss similarities and difer-
ences among the photographs. Teacher should highlight the fact that regardless of the size of the
pictures the images are the same.

Main Activity
y Students will be shown the diagram below and asked to tell how many times shorter or taller
the diferent buildings are. emphasis should be placed on writing in ratio form.
y Example: Building B is 2 times as tall as Building a (record it as 2:1)

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 y encourage students to use terms such as: two times taller or half as tall. The class will have a
discussion on scale drawing (highlight importance of ratio). The discussion should also high-
light the fact that objects may also be scaled up.
y The teacher will distribute copies of maps to students in their groups and indicate between
which two points they should measure using their rulers (the actual distance between the
points will be given to the students).
y The teacher will allow students to use their own method to ind out how many times smaller
the distance on the map is to the actual distance on the ground (start with scale that is 100:1).
y The teacher will assist students while they work. Using the same map, students will determine
the actual distance on the ground between two speciied points.

fRom To Ruler Distance actual Distance

PLENARY
The class will be engaged in a discussion which highlights the terms “scaling” and “ratios”.

ASSESSMENT
The teacher will give students cartridge paper with the grid and small drawing. Students will be
asked to reproduce the diagram on the paper 4 times its present size. each group will present
their inished drawing on the board. The teacher and the students will scrutinize the drawings to
see which ones were properly done to the given scale.

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 GEOMETRY

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 LESSON 01 ❍ SHAPES – TRIANGLES AND RECTANGLES
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 1
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, pupils should be able to:
y identify and name geometric shapes observed in the environment
y diferentiate between triangles and rectangles

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already have:
a) a general idea that all objects have a shape

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
attribute blocks/cut-outs: squares, rectangles, crayons

CONTENT OUTLINE
y a rectangle has four sides
y a triangle has three sides

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
y Students will be shown a geo-house made of triangles and rectangles. They will be asked to
tell what it is. Students will trace their ingers along diferent parts of the house (roof, door,
windows) and describe the shapes formed.

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 Main Activity
y Students will be given cut-outs of rectangles and triangles in groups. Students will tell
whether or not the shapes look like the ones on the house.
y Students will be asked to sort the shapes in two groups.
y Students will give their reasons for placing them in these groups.
y Students will explore the properties of the shapes in each group (by identifying and counting
the sides).
y Students will be introduced to the terms “triangles” and “rectangles” to describe the respective
groups.

PLENARY
THE SHAPE SONG
(sung to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, little Star”)

“Terry triangle, look at me, count my sides, there are three”

[make an outline of a triangle in the air]
(Rep.) “Robby rectangle, I have four, two long”
[make a outline of a rectangle in the air]
“two short” [make in the air]
“but no more”
[shake head] (Rep.)

ASSESSMENT
pupils will be given a geo-animal on worksheet and asked to colour the rectangles red and the
triangles blue.

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 LESSON 02 ❍ PATHS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 2
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
y identify straight and curved paths
y compare paths using the terms “longer than” and “shorter than”
y draw curved and straight paths

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already:
a) be able to identify a point
b) know how to distinguish between straight and curved lines

MATERIAL/MANIPULATIVES
map of community, story (“little Red Riding Hood”), paper tape, strings

CONTENT OUTLINE
a path can either be straight or curved.
example:

Straight Path Curved Path

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters

y Students will be shown a map of a community (map attached). They will be asked to identify
places on the map and state whether or not these places are in their community.
Main Activity
y model of map will be created on the loor using strings or tape. Students will be given difer-
ent errands to run in the community which should be role-played on the map.
y For example:
o Walking from Jenny’s house to the church
o Walking from Jenny’s house to the mall then to the church

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 y Students will be asked to use their ingers to trace the diferent journeys identiied on a
smaller map of the community given to them in groups. They will be led to understand that
another name for the journey is a path.
y Students will then be asked to use their pencils to outline the paths identiied. (eforts should
be made to ensure that the paths are both straight and curved.) Students will be asked to
identify the ones that are alike and group them together. The terms "straight" and "curved
paths" will be used to describe the groups.
y Students will then be asked to look at another map. They will explore diferent paths to get to
a particular destination (for example from point a to C or from point a to B to C) and describe
them in terms of straight or curved then say which is shorter or longer.
y Students will also explore paths on the map that take them back to where they started (for
example, from home to school to the library, then back home), in addition to other paths that
do not take them back to their starting point (for example, from home to the supermarket).
y Students will be asked to say how many straight and curved paths they travelled.

PLENARY
z The class will have a discussion on the diferences between straight and curved paths, giving
examples of each.

ASSESSMENT
Students will listen to the story “little Red Riding Hood”. They will be asked to identify the places
named in the story and then create a map showing the paths identiied in the story.

Story: “Little Red Riding Hood”

little Red Riding Hood loved her grandmother very much. one day, Red Riding Hood
decided to visit grandmother who was not feeling well. She thought about what she
could take to cheer up her grandmother. She left home and walked along a straight
path to the garden. She stopped at the garden and picked lowers for her grandmother.
She then travelled around a bend to the bakery to get something sweet for her grand-
mother. after leaving the bakery she followed the path along the winding river to her
grandmother’s house. Her grandmother was very excited to see her. She spent the rest
of the day with her grandmother then took a straight path back home.

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 LESSON 03 ❍ LINES OF SYMMETRY
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 2
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
y explain what is meant by the term symmetry
y
1
recognize the relationship between symmetry and the fraction 2–
y demonstrate symmetry by folding
y complete the drawing of shapes that are symmetrical

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already know:
a) how to divide a plane shape into halves using straight lines and by folding

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Shape cut-outs, crayons, grid paper

CONTENT OUTLINE
a line of symmetry is a line dividing a shape or object into two halves such that if the shape
is folded along this line both halves would match exactly. lines of symmetry may run in any
direction (horizontally, vertically, diagonally).

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 PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
y Students will be asked to fold paper into two halves and then open. They will then be given
paint to create a blob and then refold the paper along the crease. pupils will unfold the paper
to reveal the blob. (These could have been created prior to the class to save on time. Dried
blobs could then be taken to the mathematics class.) pupils will analyse the blobs and tell
what they notice about them. The similarity between both sides of the diagram will be high-
lighted. The word symmetry will be introduced and discussed.

Main Activity
y Students will be given a variety of cut out shapes that all possess lines of symmetry. examples
of these shapes include a square, rectangle, circle, rhombus and oval.

y Students will be asked to fold the shapes into halves so that each half its exactly over the
other. The students will be asked to state what they observe about the parts and what sepa-
rates them.
y Students will be asked to touch the line that divides the shape.
y Students will then be given both regular and irregular cut-out shapes and asked to fold them
to see if they all have lines of symmetry.
y The class will have a discussion on which shapes have lines of symmetry and whether or not
all shapes have a line of symmetry.
y Students will be given a sheet of paper and asked to fold it in halves. They will be instructed to
draw a shape of their choice from the folded end of the paper. The teacher will demonstrate
as well. Students will be assisted in cutting out their shape. Students will unfold the paper to
reveal their new shape. Teacher and students will discuss the new shape highlighting the line
of symmetry.

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 PLENARY
allow students to explain the diference between the shapes that are symmetrical and those that
are not symmetrical. Have students sort the shapes previously given into those that are symmetri-
cal and those that are not.

ASSESSMENT
y Students will be given semi-completed symmetrical shapes on grid paper and asked to com-
plete the drawing of these shapes:

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 LESSON 04 ❍ POLYGONS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 4
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, pupils should be able to:
y deine the term “polygon”
y identify various shapes in the environment that represent polygons
y diferentiate between polygons and non-polygons

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already have knowledge of:
a) straight, curved, open and closed paths
b) line segments
c) lines
d) angles and rays

MATERIAL/MANIPULATIVES
Cut-outs of plane shapes, grid paper, pictures, chart showing non-polygons and polygons, play
dough, toothpicks.

CONTENT OUTLINE
a polygon is a closed plane shape made up of three or more straight-line segments. polygons
are named according to the number of sides and angles they have. polyons can be found all
over the environment – on buildings, walls, vehicles, pictures, among other things.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
y In groups of 4 – 6, students will be given pictures for them to sort (three polygons and three
non-polygons).

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 y each group will report on their method of sorting giving reasons for their answers.
y Students should be guided to see that the given shapes could be sorted as having curves or
having all straight sides.

Main Activities
y Students will view a chart showing a set of polygons and a set of non-polygons.

y Students will be asked to observe the two sets of diagrams and then form a deinition for
polygons in their own words so that the deinition covers all the cases of polygons shown.
y Teacher should place emphasis on the following:
o polygons are closed
o polygons are only bound by straight lines
o reference should be made to the shapes explored in the starter activity
y In their groups, students will identify polygons and non-polygons in given pictures. (pictures
can be taken from newspapers or magazines, e.g. a map of a community or town, pictures of
large buildings etc.)
y Students will label polygons “p” and the non-polygons “n”
y In groups, pupils will be given play dough and toothpicks and asked to make polygons with
diferent number of sides.

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 PLENARY
essential characteristics of polygons will be summarized through class discussions.

ASSESSMENT
Students will draw two examples of polygons and two examples of non-polygons on grid paper.

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 LESSON 05 ❍ TYPES OF ANGLES
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, pupils should be able to:
y recognize right angles when drawn or seen in the environment
y identify right angles from diferent perspectives and orientations
y identify angles less than or greater than right angles

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Pupils should already know that:
a) an angle is formed where two rays or line segments meet
b) angle is the measure of the amount of turn
c) angles are measured in degrees
d) angles can be named by letters example, angle aBC

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Right angle tester, geo-strips, geo-boards

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 CONTENT OUTLINE
Vertex: a point at which two line segments, lines, or rays meet to form an angle.

angles are named by naming a point on each side of the angle with the vertex in between.
e.g.

Right angles measure 90°

acute angles measure less than 90°

obtuse angles measure more than 90° but less than 180°

Straight angles measure 1800 and are a combination of two right angles.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
y pupils will be given a page with drawings of various angle measurements. all the acute angles
will be labelled with aBC; all the obtuse angles will be labelled with pQR and the right angles
will be labelled with Def. Students will be told to sort the angles using whatever characteris-
tics they want.
y Discuss with students the diferences and similarities within and across the groups formed.

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 Main Activity

y ensure that students have grouped the angles using the letters as the common characteristic.
Discuss the characteristics/attributes of those angles labelled Def (the right angles). explain
to students that these angles are called right angles and that they measure 900.
y pupils will use the edge of books or angle testers to verify right angles and non-right angle
classiications.
y pupils will be asked to present their right angles in diferent orientations. Discussion will elicit
the fact that orientation does not afect or change the size of the angle.
y pupils will be asked in groups to use right angle testers made of strips of paper/ geo-strips to
ind areas in their classrooms that are of right angle measurement. Teacher will verify.
y pupils will then identify other areas in their environment that form right angles – for example
chalkboard corner, wall corner.
y pupils will be given geo-strips and asked to rotate their geo-strips to form an angle less than
a right angle. Use tester to verify. once this has been done, students will be introduced to the
term "acute angle". pupils will then seek to give angle measurements that are acute, e.g. 40
degrees.
y pupils will use geo-strips to show angles more than right angles but less than straight angle.
Straight angle measurement will be discussed. The term “obtuse angle” will be introduced.
y pupils will be given a diagram with angles. In groups, they will be asked to identify and name
angles as obtuse, acute or right using letter names.

Activity 2:
look at the diagram and identify the angles in each category listed below.

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 e.g. acute: 1. angle CoB obtuse _________
_________ _________
_________ _________
_________ _________

Right _________ Straight ________

_________ ________
_________ ________
PLENARY
Concepts will be reviewed for students to write deinitions for obtuse, right, acute and straight
angles.

ASSESSMENT
The students will be placed in groups of 5 and each group given a geo-board. The teacher will ask
students to use elastic bands to create shapes on their geo-boards based on descriptions given.
for example, create polygons that have:
y 4 right angles
y 3 acute angles
y 2 right angles, 1 acute angle and 1 obtuse angle.

Samples of the irst two are shown on the diagram below.

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 LESSON 06 ❍ COMBINING GEOMETRIC SHAPES
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 4
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
y Identify rectangles within a given set of quadrilaterals
y Identify right angle triangles from a given set of polygons
y combine geometric shapes to produce shapes in the environment.

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already know how to:
a) Identify triangles and quadrilaterals by the number of sides
b) Identify angles

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Tangram pieces, pictures, Grandfather Tang Story (edited)

CONTENT OUTLINE:
y polygons are closed shapes bounded by three or more straight lines. a triangle has three
sides and three angles while a quadrilateral has four side and four angles. There are difer-
ent types of triangles and quadrilaterals.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
The students will be told a part of “Grandfather Tang’s Story” up to the part about the lion. each
time an animal’s name is called the representation of the animal will be placed on the board.

Main Activity
(Pictures attached)

y The representations of the animals will be removed from the board and students will be
placed in groups of four.
y They will be shown a picture of the tangram pieces assembled as a square and asked to iden-
tify the shape of each piece.

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 (Triangle – A, C, E, F & G; Square – D; and Parallelogram – B)

y each group of student will be given a tangram set.

y Students will be asked to put the tangram pieces in groups based on similar properties (most
likely groupings: triangles and quadrilaterals).
y Students will be asked to explain their reason for the diferent groupings.
y The class will have a discussion on the properties of each tangram piece. (properties of trian-
gle, e. g. 3 sides, 3 angles; properties of quadrilaterals, e. g. 4 sides, 4 angles.)
y Students will be asked to demonstrate how two pieces can be used to form a square (C & e
and f & G)
y They will also be asked how many squares they can form or identify from the entire set (4
squares: D, all the pieces combined, C & e and f & G combined)
y Students will be asked to compare the square formed by C & e to D, and to state what they
observe. They will be told that shapes that are exactly alike are called congruent shapes.
y They will be asked to identify other congruent shapes in the set. allow students to place
pieces on top of each other to ensure that they are exactly alike (other congruent pieces: C & e
and f & G).
y Students will be asked how many shapes they can make using just the two large triangles
(triangle, square, parallelogram).
y Students will be asked which animal from the story they like the best. They will be shown the
representations of the animals from Grandfather Tang’s Story and asked to make it. Diferent
students will be asked to identify the body parts of the animals formed from the congruent
pieces.
y another animal with the pieces outlined will be shown to the students and they will be asked
to make it.

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 y Students will be told the rest of the story.
y They will be shown the rabbit without the outline and asked to make it.
y Diferent students will be asked to identify the shapes which form the diferent body parts of
the rabbit.

PLENARY
The class will review the properties of and relationship among shapes.

ASSESSMENT
Students will be asked to use any number of pieces from the tangram set to make a shape from
their environment. They will discuss the shapes made.

Grandfather Tang’s Story

Grandfather Tang and little Soo were sitting under a mango tree in their backyard. They
were amusing each other by making diferent shapes with their tangram puzzle.
“let’s do a story about animals,” said little Soo.
“ok,” said Grandfather Tang, “I’ll go irst.” So Grandfather Tang arranged his seven tangram
pieces into the shape of a bird. “Do you know which bird this is?” he asked little Soo.
“Wow!” said little Soo as she looked at Grandfather Tang’s duck. “I can make an animal too!”
she said as she began to arrange her pieces. “meow…” she said as she looked at her animal.
“Can you tell which animal I made Grandfather?
“a cat,” said Grandfather Tang.
“now it’s your turn, Grandfather Tang”. Grandfather Tang thought for a while about the
shape he was going to make. Then he said, “I know – I’ll change my duck into a goose.” So he
arranged his pieces and changed his duck into a goose.
little Soo was so excited when it was her turn; she wanted to make the king of the jungle.
“Do you know which animal is the king of the jungle?”
“The lion,” said Grandfather Tang
So little Soo used her seven tangram pieces and made a lion.
Grandfather Tang was so excited to see the lion. now, he wanted to see if little Soo could
make a rabbit. So he made the rabbit and asked little Soo, “Can you make this rabbit?”
Help little Soo to make the rabbit.

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 The Cat

The Goose

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 The Duck

Grandpa Tang

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 Little Soo

The Lion

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 The Rabbit

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 LESSON 07 ❍ LINE OF SYMMETRY
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 4
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
y explain the concept of line of symmetry
y use paper folding to show line(s) of symmetry
y draw their own shapes to show a variety of lines of symmetry and identify those lines

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already know how to:
a) divide a plane shape into halves and quarters using straight lines and by paper folding

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
pictures, scissors, grid papers, plain papers,

CONTENT OUTLINE
a line of symmetry is a line dividing a shape or object into two halves such that if the shape
is folded along this line both halves would match exactly.

PROCEDURES
Mental/Oral Starters
y Students will be shown some drawings that represent half of some known objects.
for example:

y Students will be asked to tell what they think the complete pictures represent. They will be
asked to complete the pictures.

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 Main Activity
y Students will be given some pictures (plane shapes and others) to fold in halves.

a) Could all the halves be matched exactly after folding?

b) Could you create halves by folding along the diagonals?
c) Which shapes create symmetrical halves when folded along the diagonal?
y Students and teacher will then discuss their observations as the paper folding is used to high-
light the concept of line of symmetry through the use of examples (those folded so that the
halves match) and non-examples (those that cannot be folded in halves, or those which when
folded do not give halves that match). It should be highlighted that not all halves are sym-
metrical but all symmetries show halves.

PLENARY
Students make journal entries to highlight essential points in the lesson.

ASSESSMENT
In groups, students will be given letters of the alphabet and asked to complete the table below.

letters that can be cut into letters that cannot be cut

letters that show symmetry halves but which do not into halves
show symmetry

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 aBCDef
GHIJKl
mnopQ
RSTUVW
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 LESSON 08 ❍ IDENTIFYING RECTANGLES
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 4
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson students should be able to:
y measure and compare the length of sides of quadrilaterals
y identify rectangles in a given set of quadrilaterals
y identify the properties of a rectangle

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should know that:
a) a quadrilateral has 4 sides
b) parallel lines run in the same direction and are the same distance apart; these lines never
meet
c) a right angle measures 900
d) a vertex is the common end point of two or more rays or line segments
e) a line segment is a part of a line
f ) a right-angle tester can be used to identify right-angles in quadrilaterals

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Worksheet with a given set of numbered and labelled quadrilaterals, right-angle tester (paper or
cardboard with a 900 vertex), ruler

CONTENT OUTLINE
a rectangle is a polygon with four right angles and with opposite sides that are parallel and
equal in length. .

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 PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
y Review prerequisite by doing the ‘I Spy’ activity. let students identify things/places in the
classroom that are:
(i) quadrilaterals
(ii) right angles
(iii) parallel lines
(iv) line segments
(v) vertices

Main Activity
y place students in groups of four; give each group a worksheet with a right-angle tester and
rulers (see below).
y Students will be asked to use what they were given to complete the table (see below).
y Teacher will guide the students to:
(i) use the right-angle tester to determine if the angles are right-angles
(ii) measure the sides to ind out if they are equal in length
(iii) record indings on chart
(iv) complete chart
y The class will have a discussion based on what was recorded in the table.
y The following questions could be used to guide the discussion:
(i) are all quadrilaterals rectangles?
(ii) Is a square a rectangle?
(iii) What is special about the square?

Note: Students could be allowed to do the activity with straws and play dough. Give them
to diferent lengths of straws and ask them to measure and cut them to make diferent
teacher rectangles using the play dough to hold the vertices.

PLENARY
Students will write the description of a rectangle in their notebooks using the properties from the
chart.

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 WORKSHEET
Quadrilaterals

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 y Complete the table by ticking those properties that are true for each quadrilateral.

pRopeRTIeS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

four right angles

Two pairs of parallel sides

parallel sides that are equal

y Write the numbers for each quadrilateral that has all three properties on the space below.

__________________________ has all three properties. They are rectangles.

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 LESSON 09 ❍ SUM OF ANGLES IN TRIANGLES
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson pupils should be able to:
y identify angles in polygons
y determine the sum of angles in triangles
y calculate the missing angle in a triangle

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already have knowledge of:
a) how an angle is formed
b) how to classify angles
c) how to estimate and measure angles

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
markers, crayons, protractors, cut outs of triangles of various sizes

CONTENT OUTLINE
a polygon is a plane shape made from three or more line segments. examples of polygons
include triangles, quadrilaterals and pentagons. The sum of the interior angles of a triangle
is 180°.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
lesson will be introduced through discussion about the diferent types of angles. pupils will be
asked to tell the diferent types of angles and give relevant examples of each in degrees (acute,

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 obtuse, right angled, straight and relex). The deinition of an angle will also be explored with the
teacher stressing the magnitude of a straight angle.

Main Activity
y pupils will be paired and given triangles of diferent sizes and types. pupils will identify their
angles by highlighting them with a marker or crayon; diferent colour for each angle.

y pupils will be instructed to tear of each angle (corner) of the triangle and it the vertices
together. They will tell what type of angle is formed and its measurement in degrees. (Teacher
will allow pupils to make the association between a straight angle and the sum of angles in a
triangle by observing that the pieces form a straight line which is 180 degrees.)
y a protractor will be used to conirm measurement. Students and teachers will discuss their
indings. This process will be repeated for the various sizes and types of triangles.

y at the end of this activity, pupils should realize that the size and type of the triangle does not
afect the sum of the angles.
y Students will determine the size of the third angle in a triangle given the size of the other two
angles.

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 Examples:

a) B)

PLENARY

pupils and teacher will discuss the signiicant pointers of the lesson with pupils making general-
izations about the sum of angles in triangles.

Highlights for discussion

y Relationship between sum of angles in triangle and a straight angle

y pupils deducing that the size of triangles does not afect the sum of their interior angles

ASSESSMENT
y pupils will be given various types of triangles (scalene, isosceles and equilateral) with one
unknown angle. Students will be asked to determine the size of the unknown angle in each
triangle.

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 LESSON 10 ❍ REGULAR AND IRREGULAR POLYGONS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson pupils should be able to:
y investigate the properties of regular/irregular polygons in the environment
y model regular/irregular polygons using play dough and straw

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already know how to:
a) Identify polygons by the number of sides
b) identify angles and estimate their sizes

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Dotted paper, play dough, match sticks/straws, protractor and ruler, cut-outs

CONTENT OUTLINE
y polygons are closed shapes bounded by three or more straight lines.
Regular polygons are those that have all sides of the same length and all angles measur-
ing the same. on the other hand, irregular polygons have sides of difering lengths and
angles of difering measure.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
y The class will sing the polygon song (see song at the end of this lesson).

Main Activity
y The class will have a discussion on the names and general properties of polygons in the song.
y Students will be placed in groups of four. each group will be given a set consisting of 6 difer-
ent types of polygons (3 regular and 3 irregular polygons). make the three regular polygons
red and the three irregular polygons blue. (polygons should be of similar size to reduce the
likelihood of students classifying them as big and small).

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 y Instruct students to sort polygons into two groups based on their colours. Tell students to
investigate each group to look for
o similarities within each group
o diferences between the groups
y Guide students into realizing that all angles and sides for each polygon in one group are the
same and that angles and sides of each polygon in the other group are diferent. a deinition
of regular polygons and irregular polygons will be explored with students.
y Students will look around the room (or the teacher may choose to take the students outside)
to identify regular and irregular polygons where possible. The class will discuss the polygons
found.
y each group of students will be given dotted paper and asked to draw examples of regular and
irregular polygons.
y each group will present and discuss their drawings.

PLENARY
The class will review the properties of regular and irregular polygons and write all the diferences
discovered in a table to be kept in their books or as a journal entry.

ASSESSMENT
y each group will be given play dough and varied lengths of match sticks/straws. Students will
be asked to make models of regular and irregular polygons (from 3-sided to 12-sided poly-
gons). Samples from the diferent groups will be displayed in the math corner.
y Regular polygons will be made with same length straws while the irregular polygons will be
made with diferent length straws.

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 “Polygon Oh” (sing to “Chi-chi-bud-o” tune)

polygon oh, name by the number of sides

polygon oh, name by the number of sides

Triangles, triangle has 3 sides

Quadrilaterals, quadrilateral has 4 sides

pentagons, pentagon has 5 sides

polygon oh, name by the number of sides

polygon oh, name by the number of sides

Hexagons, hexagon has 6 sides

Heptagons, heptagon has 7 sides

octagons, octagon has 8 sides

polygon oh, name by the number of sides

polygon oh, name by the number of sides

nonagons, nonagon has 9 sides

Decagons, decagon has 10 sides

polygon oh, name by the number of sides

polygon oh, name by the number of sides

polygon oh…

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 Examples of Regular Polygons

Triangle Square

pentagon Hexagon

Heptagon octagon

nonagon Decagon

Hendecagon Dodecagon

Examples of Irregular Polygons

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 LESSON 11 ❍ INTRODUCTION TO SOLIDS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 6
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
Students should be able to:
y identify characteristics of solids (prisms & pyramids)
y sort a variety of objects from the environment according to common characteristics
y give the diferent classiications of solids

PREREQUISITE
Students should already have knowledge of:
a) the properties of various plane shapes

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Toothpaste box, dice, soap boxes, constructed solids

CONTENT OUTLINE
y Solids are three-dimensional shapes.
y a prism is a solid, with two parallel faces called bases. The other faces are always parallelo-
grams. The prism is named by the shape of its base.
y a solid is a pyramid if it has 3 or more triangular faces sharing a common vertex. The base
of a pyramid may be any polygon.
y an edge is formed where two faces meet.
y a vertex is the point where three or more faces meet.

Example of a solid
coloured circles (letters): vertices
coloured lines (numbers): edges
roman numerals: faces

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 PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
pictures of plane shapes, e.g. rectangle, square, pentagon, equilateral triangle, etc., will be shown
to students. Students and teacher will review the names and discuss the properties of each plane
shape.

Main Activity
y Have students sort solids into groups based on similarities.
Students will justify their reasons for the groupings, e.g. those that can stack and those that
can roll.
y as pupils supply their reasons for grouping, a discussion will be held in order to arrive at an
explanation of each grouping of solids.

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 y Students will be introduced to the terms “pyramids" and “prisms” to describe the groups
identiied.
y pupils will be asked whether there is any solid that could not it into any of the above-men-
tioned groups. These solids will be discussed.
y pupils will look at solids and then identify any similarities or diferences among them – for
example: How are the cube and the cuboid similar? How are they diferent?
y The similarities and diferences highlighted will be used to introduce students to the terms
used to describe the characteristics of the solids such as edge, vertex, the number of faces and
the properties of their faces. (Allow pupils to trace along edges, rub the faces and point to vertices
of these solids.)
y This will be used to explore properties of other solids such as the triangular prism, the square
pyramid, etc. Students will describe them in terms of number of faces, edges, vertices, proper-
ties of their faces.
y pupils will discuss the cone and the cylinder. (Examples of questions for discussion: Do they
have vertices, edges? How many faces?)
y ask pupils to identify examples of cube, cuboid and other solids in their environment.

PLENARY
a solid created from toothpicks and play dough will be used to emphasize the properties of a
solid such as edges, vertices, etc.

ASSESSMENT
y pupils will use the solids used throughout the lesson to complete the table, on the following
page, in small groups.

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 Number of
Name of Solid Number of faces Number of vertices Other facts
edges
all the faces are square
Cube 6 12 8
based
Cuboid (Rectangular
prism)
Triangular prism

Triangular pyramid

Square-based pyramid

Cone

Cylinder

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 STATISTICS
AND
PROBABILITY

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 LESSON 01 ❍ SELECTING OUTCOMES: CERTAIN, IMPOSSIBLE, MAYBE
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 1
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
y explain in their own words the terms certain, impossible, maybe /likely
y discuss everyday occurrences as being certain, impossible, or likely
y state at least one example of each type of outcome

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should be:
a) familiar with these words: "can", "may", "must", "cannot", "sure", "never"
b) able to recite the days of the week and the months of the year in order

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Blank word card (to write students’ supplied words), word cards, strips with activities, outcome
trees, baseball and ring

CONTENT OUTLINE
z The chance of something happening may be described as: certain, impossible or maybe.
z When an event is certain it can also be described as something that must happen
z When an event is said to be a possibility it can be described as something that may
or may not happen
z When an event is said to be impossible it can be described as something that will never or
cannot happen.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters

Teacher will display a ring to the class, and allow students to briely observe and describe it. The
teacher will take up the ring in one hand and put both hands closed behind him or her. Students
will be asked to tell which hand the ring is in, in each of the following situations:

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 Selecting process (at all times students must select at least one of the two hands):

1. Teacher will put both hands forward (palms closed) for students to select (may be in either
hand).
2. Teacher will put both hands forward (one with palm open) for student to select (must be in
closed hand).
3. Teacher will place ring on the table for students to see then place hands forward for students
to select (cannot be in any hand).

Main Activity
Step 1
z Teacher will emphasize the key words used in sentences/phrases (example: can/may, must,
cannot) and write them on word cards. Students will explain their understanding of the key
words.
z Teacher will explain that when they were selecting the hand that had the ring their statement
tells the chance of the event occurring. Teacher will introduce the words certain, impossible
and maybe by asking questions such as:
1. When were you certain that you had selected the hand that had the ring? So when you
are “certain” you are _______? (sure)
2. Was there any time when it was impossible for the ring to be in a hand? So if the event is
“impossible”, it means that it _______? (cannot happen)
3. When did you have to guess that maybe the ring is in a particular hand? “maybe”suggests
that you are _______? (not sure, uncertain)
Step 2

z Create a synonym word tree for key words. Use words supplied by children to create the trees.
z Students will place word cards on the appropriate tree.

Example

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 Step 3

z Teacher introduces other words for students to examine their meanings and place them on
the outcome synonyms word tree.

Step 4

z Students will give examples of occurrences which are certain, impossible and or likely.
(Teacher will list the examples under the respective trees.)
z Teacher will then present situations for students to tell the chance of occurrences in terms of
certain, impossible or maybe.
Examples:

a) the chance of Wednesday coming before monday in the same week

b) the chance of getting a six on a single toss of a die
c) the chance of march coming before may in the year
d) the chance of getting a head on a single toss of a coin
e) the chance of getting a tail on a single toss of a die
f) the chance of getting rain on an overcast day
g) the chance of selecting a number from a number box with the numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6

PLENARY
Catch and tell
Teacher will throw ball to students for them to catch and tell either
i) synonym words for the “chance” word stated (e.g. maybe – likely) or
ii) the chance of an event occurring (e.g. to select a boy from a group of all girls – impossible)

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 ASSESSMENT
Students will select activities written on strips of paper, read them then paste them on the appro-
priate “event tree”.
Example:
a) Selecting a boy from a grade one class of 10 girls and 4 boys
b) Selecting Sunday as the irst day of the week
c) Selecting Tuesday as the third month of the year

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 LESSON 02 ❍ CONDUCTING PROBABILITY EXPERIMENTS AND RECORDING OUTCOMES
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 3
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson students should be able to:
y conduct probability experiments and record outcomes (e.g. tossing coin, rolling dice,
spinning spinners, etc.)
y predict outcomes of experiments involving the tossing of a die, etc.
y compare predictions with outcomes of experiments

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already be able to:
a) record scores by tallying
b) identify graphs as a means of representing data
c) use expressions such as “likely”, “unlikely”, etc.

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Spinners, worksheet, counters (two or more diferent colours), coins, dice, pictures of diferent
weather conditions.

CONTENT OUTLINE
probability measures the likelihood or the chance of something happening or that an event
will occur. It compares the number of favourable outcomes with the number of possible out-
comes. In some situations, some outcomes are equally likely to occur while in other situations
some outcomes are more likely to occur than others. for example:

z If you lip a coin there is a probability/chance that it will land on its head or tail. Both
outcomes are equally likely to occur.
z If a circle is divided into four equal parts but 3 parts out of the 4 parts are red and one part
is blue, it is more likely for a spinner to land on a red part than a blue part.

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 PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters

z place 10 counters in a bag – 6 red, 3 blue and 1 yellow.

z allow at least 15 students to choose a counter from the bag, identify which colour they
have and replace it.
z make a tally of the colours chosen. Without showing students the content of the bag discuss
the question “Which colour counter occurs most in the bag?”

Main Activity

z Students will be placed in groups of 3 or 4 and given the following experiments to do and
will record the results. (each group will conduct one experiment only but share indings with
other groups.)

Activity One
Flip a coin

a) make predictions about the number of times the coin will land on its head or tail when
lipped 30 times.

prediction Result (Tally) number

Heads

Tails

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 b) Based on data collected, answer true or false to the following statements:
i. The coin is more likely to land on heads than on tails ______
ii. The coin is equally likely to land on heads as on tails ______
iii. The coin is less likely to land on heads than on tails ______

Activity Two
Toss a die

make predictions about how many times each number on the die will be rolled if the die is
rolled 42 times. Record the predictions within the groups.

PLENARY
Students will deine terms used in the lesson and give examples of each.

ASSESSMENT 1
z pupils will use the form below to make predictions regarding the colour on which the arrow is
most/least likely to land.

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 Predictions

The arrow is most likely to land on ____________________

I think so because _________________________________

__________________________________________________

The arrow is least likely to land on ____________ because ____

______________________________________________

The arrow is equally likely to land on ___________________

because __________________________________________
_________________________________________________

z Spin the arrow 24 times and record your results below.

Actual outcomes

Arrow lands on Tally Number

Blue
Red
Yellow

z Students will be engaged in a discussion of the actual outcomes:

Which was most frequent and why?
What might inluence the outcomes?

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 LESSON 03 ❍ PICTOGRAPHS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 3
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
y read and interpret information given in a pictograph
y solve problems using the information given in a pictograph
y
PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Pupils should already:
a) be able to count to 100
b) know how to arrange things in a sequence
c) be able to tally
d) know how to use tables

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Grids, worksheet, punched coloured paper, glue, pictures, magazine and newspaper sections.

CONTENT OUTLINE
Data is another name for information. This may be recorded/represented in diferent ways.
a pictograph is one such way that shows data using pictures or symbols. a key must be
used to show the number of items that each picture or symbol represents. all graphs must
have titles.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters

z play ring game with students: “Those who were born in January skip around…”
z as they enter the ring, teacher records the number of persons born in each month on a table,
using tally.

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 Main Activity

z Teacher asks pupils to tell the number of students born in selected months:
o how many students were born in September?
o how many more students were born in august than in June?
o how many students were born in april and July together?
o which month had the greatest/least number of birth month celebrants?
z Use the tally sheet to create a pictograph similar to the one shown below
Key:  = 2 students

Month Number of Students

January    ◗
February 
March 
April   
May  ◗
June  
July 
August  
September 
October  ◗
November 
December    

z examine the pictograph above and discuss the following questions:

a) What is the graph showing?
b) The title – can you make a title for the graph? Why does it need a title?
c) The symbols used – do you think that they are appropriate?
d) The key – what does it tell?

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 Students will be placed in groups of 5. Give each group a copy of the incomplete pictograph
(shown below). They will be told to complete the graph based on the information given.

Title: number of marbles found in Students’ Bags

name of Student number of marbles

Key:

2 marbles 1 marble

Mark has more marbles than Paul. Pam has fewer than Paul. Carl has the fewest of the four.

Students will present and discuss solutions for problem solving activity.

PLENARY
after discussing the main elements of a pictograph, each student will write two things that they
have learnt about pictographs in their math journal.

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 ASSESSMENT
Students will interpret information on a pictograph showing favourite fruits eaten by Grade 3
students at a school in Jamaica.

Title: Favourite Fruits Eaten by 3rd Graders

NAME OF FRUIT NUMBER OF STUDENTS

apple 
mango 
pineapple 
banana 
Key = 3 students

Questions:
a) Which fruit is most popular among grade three students?
b) Which fruit is least popular among grade three students?
c) How many more students prefer apple than pineapple?

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 LESSON 04 ❍ SAMPLING AND POPULATION
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 4
DURATION: 45 minutes

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson students should be able to:
y explain the idea of ”sample” as a fraction or subset of a population
y explain the concept of “population” as it relates to statistics
y identify the population as the universal set in any given problem situation

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should have knowledge of:
a) sets, subsets, and fractions
MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Coins, picture showing example of sampling, clippings of population polls cut out from newspa-
per/magazine.

CONTENT OUTLINE
Sometimes it is not possible to test everyone/everything in a group in which an investigation
is being conducted because the group is too large. It therefore becomes necessary to take a
small group from the large group for the investigation. This small group is known in statistics
as a sample. The overall group is called the population.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
Taste and Buy

Source: Djet layne (2010)

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 Display picture for class to discuss the role of sampling in purchasing guineps or other suitable
food items. Discuss such questions as:

z How do you know if guineps are sweet before actually buying them?
z Will tasting one fruit tell how the others taste? Would tasting ive of the fruits give an idea of
the taste of the others? Why?

Main Activity

a) Students will talk about other instances when sampling is used

Example, a person in sales

shows samples on TVJ’s ‘Morning Time’.

Make reference to sampling displays
set up in supermarkets by promotional
teams. Let students give other things
that they sample.

b) Students will be asked to explain in their own words what they understand by the term
"sample".

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 c) Teacher will use the afore-mentioned examples to initiate a discussion of the term
“population”.

Ask students to deine "population" in

their own words. Does the sample al-
ways relect what the population is?
Ask students to justify their response.

z Students will be placed in 4 groups with each group carrying out a diferent task. each group
will determine a suitable sample to answer the questions below. Students' description of their
samples should include the number of persons in the sample; the characteristics of their sample: age,
grade level, gender, etc.

Group 1 – Which of the following is the school’s favourite TV show?

z Hannah montana
z iCarly
z Sponge Bob
z avatar

Group 2 – What do girls in the school prefer to wear in their hair?

z Ribbons
z Bubbles
z Bandoos
z Clips

Group 3 – Which activity do boys in the school enjoy most?

z playing marbles
z playing cricket
z playing video games
z Reading

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 Group 4 – What is the favourite ice cream lavour of persons in the school?
z Chocolate
z Cookies and Cream
z Grapenut
z Strawberry

PLENARY
Use results to discuss the relationship between sample and population.

ASSESSMENT
Teacher writes scenarios comprising samples and populations on strips of paper and distributes
to the groups. each group will be asked to share the scenario(s) given and identify the sample and
the population.
Example: a shoe manufacturer wants to donate football boots to the football team of maggie
primary School. The shoe sizes of ive boys were taken to determine what size shoes to send.

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 LESSON 05 ❍ MEASURE OF CENTRAL TENDENCY – MEAN
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 4
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson students should be able to:
y ind the mean of a set of data
y solve problems based on mean

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already be able to:
a) apply the four basic arithmetic operations

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Counters, number cards

CONTENT OUTLINE
mean is a measure of central tendency. It is sometimes referred to as average.
This is calculated by inding the sum of all the numbers in the set and dividing the sum by the
number of elements added.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
z Three students will be asked to stand at the front of the class. Twelve counters will be
distributed to the students as follows 2, 4, 6.
z The 3 students will be asked to share the counters equally among themselves (Expected result:
each student will have 4 counters).
z Students will be asked to explain how they share the counters equally.

Main Activity
z The starter activity will be repeated with nine counters distributed to the students as follows
1, 2, 6.
z Students will again be asked to explain how they got their answer.

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 z other students in the class will be asked if there are other ways they could share the counters
equally.
z Students will be placed in groups of 3 to 5 depending on the class size. The total number
of counters distributed to the group should be a multiple of the number of students in the
group.
z each member of the group will be given a bag/container with counters. for example:
– counters in a four-member group could be distributed as follows: 4, 4, 7, 1
– counters in a three-member group could be distributed as follows: 5, 0, 7
z The groups will be asked to share their counters equally among the members of the group.
z each group will explain to the class how they shared their counters.
z The teacher will help the students to recognize that they put all their counters together then
shared them equally. The teacher will inform students that the equal share is known as the
mean.
z each group member will be given a number card.
z Students will be asked to ind the mean of the numbers given in their group.
z each group will display their numbers on the board and write the mean beside them.
z The class will have a discussion where they will realize that the mean of the numbers is larger
than the smallest number and smaller than the largest number.
z Students will work individually to ind the mean of the following numbers:

(a) 5, 12, 4 (b) 9, 20, 5, 6 (c) 10, 7, 2, 5, 6

PLENARY
The class will have a discussion to review the process that can be used to ind the mean of a set of
numbers.

ASSESSMENT
Students will be asked to write six diferent numbers that have a mean of:
(a) 8
(b) 6

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 LESSON 06 ❍ BAR GRAPH
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 4
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson students will be able to:
y present at least one set of data using a bar graph
y read and interpret a bar graph giving no fewer than two but not more than ive
statements about the data presented
y convert at least one pictograph into a bar graph

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should be able to:
a) collect and organize data using tables
b) represent data on a pictograph
c) interpret information from a graph

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Bag illed with four coloured squares, strips of squared paper

CONTENT OUTLINE
Data is another name for information. a bar graph is one of the methods used to represent
data. Information is shown on the graph as a series of bars. The bars can be vertical or hori-
zontal. The height or length of each bar represents the amount of data shown. The data
represented on each bar is shown on the horizontal axis. Bar graphs can also be created with
information given from a pictograph.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
Building Towers. Students are invited to select their favourite coloured post-it note from the
teacher's desk. each post-it note will be of same size.
Teacher draws an empty set of axes as shown below and places colour coded labels below the
horizontal axis.

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 Students take turns to paste their post-it notepaper, in line with the selected colour, above the
horizontal line so as to form a tower. no overlapping is allowed. Teacher assists students to ensure
bar representing tower is created above each label.

Main Activity

z The teacher and students will discuss the representation of the data as arranged in the
coloured bars.
z Students will be guided into interpreting the information on the graph, using the following
questions:

What does this graph show?

Which colour was picked by

the most students?

Which colour was picked by

the least number of students?

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 z pupils will participate in the ring game – “all those who were born January skip around….”
z one child will record of the number of children born in each month in a table as shown below.

Month Number of Children with Birthdays

January
february

z Students and teacher will discuss how they could present the information on a bar chart.
z pupils will be presented with a bar chart frame on cartridge paper (the axes drawn). Discuss
an appropriate title for representing the data. label the axes using an appropriate scale.
No. of Pupils

Months of the Year

z Distribute rectangular strips of paper (with height of 50 cm and width of 5 cm) to students
grouped according to their birth months.
z Instruct students to cut their strip of paper to represent the number of persons in the group.
Tell them to use a height of 5cm to represent each group member.
z allow each group to paste their strip of paper on the axes to create a bar chart.
z each student will write at least two statements about the bar chart constructed.

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 Example of statement:

Most children were born in

_____________.

z With the assistance of the teacher, students will discuss how they could convert a pictograph
into a bar graph. The teacher will guide the students into extracting the information (in table
form) shown by the pictograph below.

After-School Club Membership

Hobby Club

Writers’ Club

Chess Club

Art Club

Drama Club

Science Club

Sports Club

Math Club
 = 2 persons

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 PLENARY
In groups, pupils are asked to write statements about two things they learnt from the lesson.

ASSESSMENT
Create a bar graph using the information extracted from the pictograph above.

Days of the Week No. of Students late

Hobby Club 6

Writers’ Club 6

Chess Club 7

art Club 8

Drama Club 8

Science Club 10

Sports Club 12

math Club 18

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 LESSON 07 ❍ MEASURE OF CENTRAL TENDENCY – MEDIAN
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson students should be able to:
y ind the median of a set of data
y solve problems based on median

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should be already be able:
a) to apply the four basic arithmetic operations
MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Counters, number cards, tape measure

CONTENT OUTLINE
median is measure of central tendency. The median value of a set of numbers is the middle
number when they have been placed in ascending or descending order. If there is an even
number of members in the set, the median is found by calculating the average or mean of the
two middle values after they have been placed in ascending or descending order.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
z place a chair at the front of the class and ask a student to sit in it. ask 6 students to stand
beside the one seated – 3 on either side. Discuss the position of the one seated – draw
students’ attention to the fact that
a. this child is in the 4th position
b. the 4th position is in the middle
c. there are 3 persons on either side
z ask 4 other persons to join the 7 already at the front of the class and to ensure that the person
seated is still in the middle. Discuss the formation. explore other possibilities such as:
o Suppose 3 students are added to the left of the seated child but only 2 are added to his/
her right – would the seated child still be in the middle?
o Suppose, instead, the second person on the left of the seated one was sitting on the chair
– can you now arrange the students around him/her to so that he/she is in the middle?

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 Main Activity

z Students will be placed in groups of seven and/or nine (depending on the class size).
z Students will be asked to arrange themselves in their groups in ascending or descending
order based on their height.
z Teacher will tell the class that the student in the middle represents the median height of the
group. from this, a discussion about the median will be conducated and its properties will be
outlined.
z each group of students will be given a tape measure and asked to arrange themselves in
ascending or descending order based on the length of their arms.
z The groups will be rearranged to form groups of 8 or other suitable even number.
z Students will use tape measure to measure the distance around the waist of group members
and record the measurements.
z Students will then be asked to ind the median value of the measures now that there are 8
members in the group.
z Students will then be asked to explain how they got their answers.
z The teacher will help students to recognize that when the set of numbers for which the
median is to be found has an odd number of members then the numbers are arranged in
ascending or descending order and the number in the middle is the median.
z However, when the set of numbers for which the median is to be found has en even number
of members then the numbers are arranged in ascending or descending order and the mean
of the two middle values are found which would be the median.
for example:

In the set 24, 44, 45, 32, 12, 25, 50, 42 ---- 12, 24, 25, 32, 42, 44, 45, 50
32 + 42 74
Then the median is ______ = —
2 2
The median is = 37

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 PLENARY
z Remaining in groups of four, students will use tape measure to measure the length of group
members’ feet (shoe size) and ind the median length of group members’ feet (shoe size).
z Students will be asked to explain how they arrived at their answers.
z The class will have a discussion to review what was done in the lesson.

ASSESSMENT
Students will work individually to ind the median of the following numbers:

a. 5, 12, 4, 6, 9, 8, 1, 16, 20
b. 9, 20, 5, 6, 23, 21, 12, 14
c. 10, 7, 2, 5, 6, 50, 51, 52
d. 24, 25, 26, 31, 30, 24, 0, 5, 25, 32

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 LESSON 08 ❍ CONSTRUCTING QUESTIONNAIRES
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
Students should be able to:
y discuss the importance of questionnaires in data collection
y develop questionnaires containing no less than 3 questions and use them to collect data
from classmates about a given topic/situation

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already have:
a) knowledge of various types of questions
b) deinition and purposes of questionnaires
c) knowledge of formulating questions suitable for interviews

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Sample questionnaire, paper (graph paper), chalkboard/lip chart

CONTENT OUTLINE
Questionnaires are instruments used in data collection. They contain questions that require
answers about a particular person, place, thing or situation. Questions should be clear and
simple. everyone participating in the survey should be asked the same questions. Question-
naires may be made more user-friendly by giving multiple choice options.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
1. Students will be asked how they would ind out the following information about students in
the class:
z name
z address
z date of birth
z mode of transportation to school

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 Possible responses would be: by going to each student and asking the questions individually, checking
their books, looking at their identiication cards.

2. The teacher will then engage students in a discussion about the time it would take to
complete such a task and to say if there was a more eicient way in which this could be done.
Teacher will tell students that a questionnaire could be used to get the information from
students.
3. pupils will be asked to give their deinition of questionnaires, after which the teacher will
further guide them in reining their deinition.

Main Activity
pupils will be given a sample questionnaire (shown below).

Discussion

z What do you think the designer of the questionnaire wanted to ind out?
z Do you think it is a clear and simple questionnaire? Give reasons for your answers.
z How could the above questionnaire assist in collecting data? Give reasons for you answer.

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 Teachers will engage pupils in a discussion and activity
– pupils will discuss the purposes of a questionnaire
– each group will create a questionnaire to ind out information on one of the following
issues:
o what students like to eat for lunch
o students’ favourite past time/activity
o students’ favourite subject
o students’ favourite TV show
o how students intend to spend their summer holidays
– The teacher will guide discussion on the appropriateness of the students’ questions by
asking probing questions, such as:

Are the questions clear?

Do the questions ask speciically for the

information needed?

Is there more than one answer to the questions?

Can you think of any other question to ask?

PLENARY
pupils will be given an activity in which they will select items which would not be suitable for
particular questionnaires. for example, in conducting an interview to determine their classmates’
preference for a particular extracurricular activity.

1) What is your favourite colour? _________________________

2) Do you like sports?
[ ] yes [ ] no
3) Do you participate in any extra curricular activities or after-school programme? (If yes,
name the activity.)
[ ] yes ________________ [ ] no
4) What will be your age on your next birthday? _________________

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 ask students if they think that names should be placed on questionnaires. Students will give
reasons for their answers.

ASSESSMENT
z In groups of 3 or 4 design a questionnaire to ind out what pupils in your year group do on a
friday night (no less than 3 and no more than 5 questions).
z exchange your questionnaire with another group. assess each other’s questionnaires and
make suggestions for improvement.
z Use your questionnaires to collect data from another group of pupils.
z Write a brief statement in your math journal telling why questionnaires are important in data
collection.

ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY
Students may be asked to
represent data on bar graphs
or tables

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 LESSON 09 ❍ TYPES OF GRAPH (PICTURE, LINE, BAR, PIE)
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
y discuss the appropriate use of various tables and graphs
y solve problems in which data are given by means of a graph or diagram

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should be able to:
a) construct and interpret line graph, pictograph, bar chart and pie chart
b) identify graphs by their names – for example, pictograph, circle graph, pie chart, bar graph

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Samples of diferent types of graphs, “work cards”, paper strips, glue, sheets of paper, crayons,
graph sheets, cartridge paper

CONTENT OUTLINE
Various graphs and diagrams such as pictographs, line graphs, bar charts, and pie charts, can
be used to represent statistical data.
z on a line graph, data is represented by a series of points connected by line segments. each
point represents the frequency of the data.
z on a bar chart, information is shown on the graph as a series of bars. The bars can be vertical
or horizontal. The height or length of each bar represents the frequency of each category of
the data.
z on pictographs, data is represented using pictures or symbols. a key is used to explain the
meaning of symbols used.
z pie charts are circular graphs on which the frequency of each category of data is represented
as sectors of a circle. The relative frequency of each category is relected by the area of each
sector.

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 PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
The teacher holds up work cards for students for them to answer displayed questions in groups.
The group to supply the most correct answers after a speciied time will be the winning group.
Sample of work cards

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 Main Activity
z Students will remain in groups. each group will be given the diferent graphs below to
observe and discuss. each group will be given a sheet of paper (Sheet 1) labelled ‘First
Information’ and will be asked to write as many points as they can with regard to the graphs
given. This will include similarities and diferences among the graphs and information that
can be gained from the graphs.
z pupils will then be given another sheet of paper (Sheet 2) titled ‘Guided Information’ for them
to answer the guided questions.
z Guided Questions
o What is the purpose of the graphs?
o Which grade consumed the least amount of ice cream?
o Can you identify the graphs by their names? Write the names of the graphs given (e.g. line
graph, bar graph, etc.)
o Which graph gives the information more readily? Give reasons for your answer.
o How does Graph 1 difer from Graph 2?
o How much more ice cream did Grade 4 consume than Grade 6?
o Which grade consumed the most ice cream?
o What is the total number of ice cream cones consumed by all three grades?
(Teacher will collect Sheet 2 and sign of at the end of students’ inal point)

z The four graphs below will be displayed for students to identify by name. The advantages and
disadvantages of each graph will be discussed. Information represented will be discussed as
well as the appropriateness of graphs used (giving reasons).

Graph 1
Ice cream consumed by students of Grades 4, 5, and 6 at Moore Primary School

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 Graph 2
Ice cream consumed by students of Grades 4, 5, and 6 at Moore Primary School

Graph 3
Ice cream consumed by students of Grades 4, 5, and 6 at Moore Primary School

Graph 4
Ice cream consumed by students of Grades 4, 5, and 6 at Moore Primary School

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 z Student groups will share with each other by reading the information on Sheets 1 and 2 (First
Information/ Information). The class will engage in the necessary calculations and observations
in order to verify the information supplied.
z pupils will tell various places where they have seen the diferent graphs being used and their
purposes.

PLENARY
each group will make 2 points that they learned from the lesson.

ASSESSMENT
Students will be placed in 3 groups. each group will be given a scenario to select, and will present
the information on the appropriate graph.
1. Number of students who were late for school each day
monday 5
Tuesday 8
Wednesday 13
Thursday 7
friday 9

2. Company’s proit for 6 months (January–June 2010)

Jan. $40,000 april $30,000
feb. $60, 000 may $50,000
march $50,000 June $70,000

3. School population (Grades 1–6)

Grade 1: 35 students Grade 4: 30 students
Grade 2: 40 students Grade 5: 35 students
Grade 3: 45 students Grade 6: 30 students

Group members will present their graphs (which will include reading information from the graph
and stating why that type of graph was considered appropriate as well as the challenges they
would encounter if the other two options were used).

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 LESSON 10 ❍ USING DATA TO MAKE PREDICTIONS AND INFERENCES
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 6
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of lesson, students should be able to:
y collect data using experiments and/or interviews
y analyse data and make at least 2 inferences and draw conclusions based on data
collected and activity done in class

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Pupils should already:
a) be able to read and interpret information on tables and graphs
b) have knowledge of money and decimals

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Children’s Own newspaper, worksheets with tables, cartoon

CONTENT OUTLINE
Statistics is a very helpful research tool that enables researchers to gather enough data to
make inferences for business, government decisions and even personal choices. for example,
statistics may be used to determine if a new product is doing well, which new products or
services are needed, or even if a drug or treatment has had any positive efect.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters

z Teacher presents a cartoon to students on statistics

involving making predictions.
z What information can you get from the cartoon?
z Is it possible to predict a win? explain.

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 Main Activity

z Discuss the use of statistics as a tool used to make predictions or draw conclusions in our
everyday lives:
o Is it possible to observe data on graphs and make predictions? explain.

o Talk about some simple predictions (introduce other synonyms for predict) that we can
make –about weather, exam results, etc. – in our daily activities, based on collected data.

o Students give examples of using statistics to make inferences – for example, the number of
students who buy lunch at the canteen in a given week.

o Review key words such as data, survey, population, sample.

Task

z Students will be told that a jewellery store owner wants to use fancy letters as the design for
pendants. He has asked the class to help him carry out the survey. The teacher will mount on
the board a pre-prepared chart with students’ names and initials (sample shown below).

Students’ names Initial – Christian name Initial – Surname Initial preferred for pendant

Joe Black J B

Peter Carter P C

Jennifer Clarke J C

z The teacher will poll students to determine which initial they prefer for the pendant and use
the result to complete the table.

z Which initial is the most common for Christian names – vowels or consonants? ____________

z Which is the most common for surnames – vowels or consonants? _______________

z Which is more preferred for the pendant: irst letter of Christian name or irst letter of
surname? ___________________

z Is there a letter of the alphabet that was not used? ___________________

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 z from the data you have gathered, complete the following table:

Title: Preferred Letters for Pendants

Preferred letter for pendant Number of students

Vowels

Consonants

What advice could you give this businesspeson about making pendants and their selling price?

Explain __________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

PLENARY
Write a letter telling your best friend how studying data can be useful in our daily lives.

ASSESSMENT
Discuss indings from students’ research on the task above.

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 ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY
Students will be given the following table for analysis and discussion:

Title: Gasoline Prices at a Major Gas Station Kingston, 2000–2010

YEAR PRICE PER LITRE (L) OF GASOLINE

2000 $56

2001 $58

2002 $61

2003 $66

2004 $67

2005 $67.50

2006 $71

2007 $76

2008 $83.50

2009 $98

2010 $105

Task

z analyse the data in the table. Draw one conclusion from the data.
z Based on your conclusion, can you make a prediction about the future price of the gasoline?

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 ALGEBRA

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 LESSON 01 ❍ IDENTIFYING ADDENDS IN ADDITION PROBLEMS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 2
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
y supply the missing addend or sum in an addition sentence
y use the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already be able:
a) to count from 1 to at least 20
b) to solve problems which involve the use of addition and subtraction

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Counters, counting-on frames (see template under Main Activity below), blue and red crayons/
markers, 2-sided number cards (with a diferent single digit number written on each side)

CONTENT OUTLINE
If either the addend or sum in an addition sentence, such as 6 + 2 = 8, is
missing we can determine its value by using algebra. additionally, if we
know that 6 + 2 = 8, then we can supply the missing number in either of
the two number sentences below:
8 – 2 = __
8 – 6 = __
a variable is any symbol, representing a number as yet unknown.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters

Before the class starts, place about 10 counters in a non-transparent box. This box is going to be
called a “magic-box”. The teacher starts with the magic box on the table and explains to students
that a magic box changes things that are placed inside it. So, if 2 things are placed inside it, then
more or less than 2 may come out.

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 With students watching, place a few counters in the magic box (ensure that students know the
number of counters that have been placed in the box) and then after a “lourish”, remove a few
more counters than were placed in the box. Discuss with students what “magic” the box did to the
counters – how did it change the number of counters that were placed in the box?

Ideally, use counters of the same colour and basic design and dimensions. Do this a few more
times, ensuring that students understand the notion of “more than”, each time model “counting
on” from what was placed in the box to what was taken out.

Main Activity

z place students in groups of 2 and give each group a set of:

o 2-sided number cards (each group getting cards with diferent numbers, and no more
than 5 cards)
o counting-on frames (one for each number card)
o blue and red markers/crayons (one of each colour)
z model how to use the number cards and counting-on frames
o by selecting a number card and showing students the smaller of the 2 numbers written on
the card (for example, 5)
o by drawing a large counting-on frame on the board and using the blue marker/chalk to
colour the irst 5 blocks of the counting-on frame

o by showing students the larger number written on the other side of the card (for
example, 8)
o by asking students, “What number do you add to 5 to make it 8?”
o by counting on from the 5 blocks already shaded, saying “6…7…8”, and pointing to an
empty block each time
o by using the red marker/crayon/chalk to colour the 3 blocks to which you have pointed

z Review the equation modelled on the number card/counting-on frame by writing the
following on the board:
5 + __ = 8

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 z Use the completed counting-on frame to discuss the answer to this and, below it, write
5+3=8
(Ideally, use the same colours to write the equations as were used to colour the counting-on frame)
z Invite students to use their counting-on frames to model their number cards. Instruct them to
write both the incomplete number sentences as well as the completed ones.
z monitor groups to ensure that they are using their cards correctly and shading their frames.
z after the groups are inished with this task, discuss how the frames could be used to show
subtraction, using the completed frame on the board.
o Count the total number of squares coloured (to get 8) and then count how many are blue
(to get 5). Write below the frame
8 – __ = 5

o Count the number of red tiles with students to determine the answer. Write below the
frame
8–3=5

o ask students to make up subtraction equations using their completed frames.

PLENARY
Identify a space on the wall of the classroom and ask each group to place one of their completed
number frames there. each completed number frame should include both the addition equations
and the subtraction equations. Discuss the meaning/use of the dash in each number sentence.

ASSESSMENT
Give each student blank number frames and ask them to colour the frames to represent equa-
tions like the example below and write the corresponding subtraction equations.

2 + __ = 10 and 10 – 2 =___

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 Counting-on frames

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 LESSON 02 ❍ USING ALGEBRA TO DESCRIBE RELATIONSHIPS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 3
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
During the lesson, students will:
y solve “if __then __” examples which associate repeated addition with multiplication –
for example, “if n = 6, then 2 × n =___”
y use simple algebra in problem solving
y use symbols to represent numerals in mathematical sentences

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already be able to:
a) ind what the number n represents when n replaces an addend, a sum or a product
b) construct simple tables using numbers to represent items
c) solve problems using information given in a table

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Cut-outs of “stick” man and jump rope (template provided below), masking/mounting tape

CONTENT OUTLINE
Relationships between variables exist when pairs of values are related in the same way as
other pairs of values. These relationships can be described algebraically by assigning vari-
ables to represent “any quantity” of one variable and writing expressions to describe general
rules. In this way, algebra can be used to predict values not observed as yet.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
pre-prepare a set of cards with matching pairs of algebraic addition and multiplication sentences
– one half of each pair of cards will have a repeated addition sentence (such as a + a + a) and
its corresponding half will have the equivalent multiplication sentence (3a). Issue these cards
randomly to the class – give each child one card (or, in a large class, give one card to each pair
of students). Give students a few minutes to ind their partners. you may choose to write related
words on the back of matching cards to aid students (for example, ‘BUn’ on the back of (3 a ) and

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 ‘CHeeSe’ on the back of (a + a + a). after students have found their partners, discuss the relation-
ship between the number sentences on a matching pair of cards.

Main Activity
z Invite volunteers to come to the board and make a model of the two students turning a
skipping rope.
z models on the board should be created by mounting 2 stick men and one jump rope as
shown below:

z Discuss with students the number of persons needed to turn 1 skipping rope. Draw a table on
the board with column headings "number of ropes"and "number of persons"and complete it
as follows:

Number of ropes Number of persons

1 2

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 z ask another volunteer to come to the board and paste another cut-out of 2 stickmen and a
jump rope as shown below.

z ask students to record this in their tables. Have students continue pasting cut-outs of
stickmen and ropes until about 5 or 6 ropes (10 or 12 persons) are on the board. ensure that
students complete their table as each pair is added.
z arrange students in groups of 5 and without placing more cut-outs on the board, take the
students through the following tasks:
o Complete their table for up to 10 ropes.
o Discuss how students were able to complete their tables – did they add 2 (vertically) or did
they multiply by 2 (horizontally)? ensure that all the tables have been completed correctly,
as below.

Number of Ropes Number of Persons

1 2
2 4
3 6
4 8
5 10
6 12
7 14
8 16
9 18
10 20

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 o ask students to describe the relationship between the number of ropes and the number
of students; allow them to use full sentences if they choose – do not insist on n sentences.
ask questions (as necessary) such as:
y Do you see a relationship between the 1 and the 2, the 2 and the 4, the 3 and the 6
and so on?
y If I know how many ropes there are, what do I do to know how many persons are
turning them?
y How many persons does it take to turn one rope? for each new rope how, many more
persons are needed?
z Working with the model on the board, have students use repeated addition to show that
3 ropes need 2 + 2 + 2 persons. Discuss ways in which this can be written. Guide students into
using 3 × 2 as a way of writing the repeated addition problem.
z Repeat this for 4, 5 and 6 ropes, if necessary. To further guide students into seeing the
relationship between ropes and number of persons, you may summarise for students by
writing
0 If 3 ropes are used then 2 × 3 persons will be needed
0 4 ropes need 2 × 4 persons
0 5 ropes need 2 × 5 persons
0 6 ropes need 2 × 6 persons
z now, ask students to say how many persons will be needed when there are n number of
ropes (you can revert to the format: n ropes need ___ × ___ persons).
z finally, discuss the solution to the question: “How many persons are needed to turn 18 skipping
ropes?” model the following solution for students:
If n = 18, then 2n = 2 × 18 = 36
Therefore, 36 persons are needed to turn 18 skipping ropes
z ask students to tell you how many persons are needed if number of ropes (n) =
o 20
o 28
o 35

PLENARY
Discuss the table of results that students would have obtained so far. explore and resolve any
questions that students observe about patterns in the table. for example, discuss the fact that
there are only even numbers in the second column.

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 ASSESSMENT
Suppose a “jumper” was added to each skipping activity as shown below.

i. What would be the relationship between the number of ropes and the number of
persons?
ii. How many persons would be needed if there were 19 skipping ropes?

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 Stickmen/Jump Rope – Template

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 LESSON 03 ❍ N-SENTENCES
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 3
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, students will be able:
y to ind what the number n represents when n replaces an addend, a sum or a product

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already have:
a) an understanding of the four basic operations
b) an understanding of the role of the equal sign
c) an understanding of the unit of weight

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Balance scale, algebra work card, unlabelled weights, labelled weights (100g, 200g, etc.) and cards
with equations

CONTENT OUTLINE
Variables are symbols that take the place of numbers. They are used to represent quantities
or values that vary or change. algebra allows for patterns to be recognized, extended and
generalized. for example, the generalization that a + b = b + a tells us that 83 + 27 = 27 + 83
without computing the sums on each side.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
ask 12 volunteers to stand in front of the class. Give each volunteer a single-digit number on a
card. Instruct students to organize themselves into groups of 3 such that each group has a true
addition or subtraction number sentence. allow the rest of the class to judge whether the num-
ber sentences are correct. Could students be reorganized to ensure that more/most/all students
are used?

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 Main Activity
a) Students will be placed in groups and each group will be given a balance scale and
unlabelled masses. They will be questioned about what they think will happen to the
balance if equal/unequal masses are placed on either side.
b) Using the labelled masses students will conduct exploration to determine the diferent
masses that create a balance. They will then write equations to represent balanced
situations.
For example, 500g = 100g + 100g + 300g

c) Students will be given cards with equations where a variable will be used to represent a
missing mass. Using a similar activity conducted in b), above they will ind the missing
mass to complete the equation.
For example, 400g = 50g + 100g + ng, What does n represent?

d) Students will be given a worded problem. Through guided discussion and teacher’s
help, they will generate a number sentence with an appropriate symbol to represent the
unknown variable. For example, John had 5 marbles. He got some more from his brother,
mathew, and he now has 8. How many marbles did he get from his brother?
e) Using the number sentence “5 + n = 8”, students will use marbles to ind the solution.
f ) Students will be asked to model and solve the following worded problem:
Clara has some sweets and her sister gave her 8 more and
now she has 17 sweets. How many did Clara have at irst?

PLENARY/ASSESSMENT
Students in their groups will write two-worded problems and exchange with other groups to
solve. each group will share its number sentence and solution with the class.

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 LESSON 04 ❍ USING ALGEBRAIC IDEAS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS
SUB-TOPIC: n-sentences Involving multiplication and division
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 3
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
y ind what n represents, when it replaces a product or a factor in a multiplication
or division sentence select or write the appropriate n-sentence in a problem situation

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should know:
a) how to write algebraic expressions
b) the four basic operations and their inverses

MATERIALS/ MANIPULATIVES
Calculators

CONTENT OUTLINE
N-sentences can be used to describe patterns and also to describe observed mathematical
relationships. Using a variable allows us to make generalizations. Substituting known values
into variables allows us to ind answers to speciic situations.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
Engage the students in the activity “broken keyboard”.
The keyboard on Joni’s computer is not working properly. If she types a word and then presses
the Enter key, a new word is created. Below are some examples of this.

a) ‘Bit’ becomes ‘Bite’

b) ‘Star’ becomes ‘Stare’
c) ‘Hid’ becomes ‘Hide’
d) ‘Bath’ becomes ‘Bathe’
What rule is the enter key following in changing the words that she types? How would the com-
puter change ‘Rip’? What did it change to get ‘Quite’?

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 Main Activity

z Tell students that when Joni enters a number on her broken keyboard, another one is
displayed according to a certain rule.

z Discuss the relationship between the number entered and the number displayed in the table
below:
number entered number displayed
1 2
2 4
4 8
5 10
7 14

z Discuss questions such as:

o What rule is the computer/keyboard following?
o Is the rule the same for all numbers entered?
z ensure that all students can describe the rule before asking them to predict the number
displayed when the following numbers are entered:
o 12
o 15
o 19
z finally, ask students to write an expression for the display if n is entered.

z Discuss with students how they would ind the number entered if the displayed number is 20.
ensure that students appreciate the need for reversing the process (dividing by 2).
z ask students to use the rule they have observed to say what number would have been
entered in order for the displayed number to be:
o 18

o 36

o 40

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 z allow students, in groups of 2, to attempt the other broken keyboard task below:

Instructions:
figure out the rule that the broken keyboard is following and use it to ill in the spaces occupied
by question signs

number entered number displayed

2 8
5 20
7 ?
8 32
9 ?
? 44
n ?

Discuss students’ solution. ensure that students are able to describe how to ind the displayed
number as well as the number entered.

PLENARY
With the use of the following examples, discuss the relationship between multiplication and divi-
sion in n sentences:
o 3n and n ÷ 3
o 5n and n ÷ 5
o 8n and n ÷ 8

ASSESSMENT
Have students remain in their groups of 2. each student in each group will make up 2 broken key-
board problems for their partner to solve.

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 LESSON 05 ❍ CREATING ALGEBRAIC EXPRESSIONS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 4
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
y During the lesson, students will write n-sentences to represent problems

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should be able to:
a) identify numbers from 1 to 100 proiciently
b) express simple sentences and worded problems as algebraic expressions

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Dice, large hundred chart for display (sample shown below); cut-outs of parts of hundred boards
(see below)

Hundred Chart

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 CONTENT OUTLINE
algebraic expressions can be used to describe relationships between two quantities. once we
know the relationship between the two quantities then we can determine the value of one
quantity as long as we know the other.
We do this by substituting known values into expressions.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
Decide on a number relationship (such as 4 more than a number) that will be modelled using
number cards. ask 2 volunteers to come to the front of the class. Give a number card to each
student – each card has a diferent number, with one number being 4 more than (or 4 less than)
the other. ask 2 more volunteers to come to the front of the class and give them 2 number cards
with diferent numbers but the same relationship. Do this about 4 or 5 times each time modelling
the same relationship using diferent pairs of numbers. for the 6th pair of students, give one child
a number card and ask the class to say what card would be given to the other student. Do this for
a few more pairs of students – alternating between having the class determine the number on
the second card and the number on the irst card. eventually, discuss the relationship that exists
between the pairs of numbers.

Main Activity
z Display a large hundred chart. Introduce students to the hundred chart by asking questions
such as
o How many rows and columns does it have?
o What do you observe about the last/irst digit of each number in each column?
o What is special about the numbers in the last column?
z Use the hundred chart to explore relationships. ask students to look at the hundred chart
and describe what is special about numbers that are immediately above or under each other.
focus their attention on two numbers if needed – for example, 45 and 55.
z Discuss this with students and ensure that students realize that there is a diference of 10
between the two numbers – the number at the bottom is 10 more than the number at the
top.
z Hide the hundred chart and ask students to say what numbers would be immediately under
the following numbers on the hundred chart:
o 21
o 37
o 76

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 z Show the students the hundred chart again and discuss their answers. Highlight the idea of
”adding 10” to each number in order to identify the one below it. If necessary, write on the
board:
o Top number = 21, bottom number = 21 + 10
o Top number = 37, bottom number = 37 + 10
o Top number = 76, bottom number = 76 + 10

z now ask students to write which number would be below n on the hundred chart. point out
that n could be any number on the chart.
z ask students to discuss what number would be above/below n on the hundred chart. ensure
that students use the expressions n + 10 and n − 10 to describe this relationship.
z Repeat the previous steps looking this time at the relationship between numbers along a
diagonal. for example the relationship between 22 and 33, or 33 and 42.
z Using the number 54 (or any other suitable number) as a reference point, and using n to
represent 54, ask students to write relationships between 54 and all numbers surrounding it
in a 3 × 3 square (as shown below):

That is, write the relationship between

o 54 and 64 (n + 10)
o 54 and 44
o 54 and 55
o 54 and 53
o 54 and 65
o 54 and 63
o 54 and 43
o 54 and 45
z ensure that students check their relationships in at least one other 3 × 3 square.

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 PLENARY

Discuss and verify students’ algebraic expressions that describe the various relationships on a
3 × 3 grid of the hundred chart.

ASSESSMENT

place students in groups of about 5 or 6 students. Give each group a large drawing of a cut-out of
a segment of a hundred chart (preferably on cartridge paper). explain to students that the cut-out
is a part of a hundred chart, but some numbers are missing. Tell them to complete the chart by
putting in the missing numbers. Six sample cut-outs are shown below.

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 LESSON 06 ❍ GENERATING NUMBER PATTERNS
GRADE: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, students should be able to::
y generate number patterns
y identify rules governing generated number patterns and express them algebraically

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should be able to:
a) express simple sentences and word problems as algebraic expressions
b) recognize simple number patterns particularly those dealing with the multiplication
operation

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
at least 60 counters (30 of one colour and 30 of another)

CONTENT OUTLINE
algebraic expressions can be used to describe relationships between two quantities. once
we know the relationship between the two quantities then we can determine the value of
one quantity as long as we know the other. We do this by substituting known values into
expressions.

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 PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
Two volunteers will be selected to model the following problem with the assistance of the class.
a boy and a girl sit on chairs separated by 1 chair.

What is the minimum number of moves needed for them to switch places following these rules?
o a person can either move onto an adjacent chair or "jump" over an adjacent person (of
any gender) to the vacant chair immediately beyond him or her.
o persons can move in one direction only – they are not allowed to turn back.
o at all times, a person must be on a chair.
move 1

move 2

move 3

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 Main Activity
z as a class, determine the minimum number of moves needed for 4 students (2 on each side)
to exchange places (see model solution below).
z Discuss the attempts made by the students by asking them
o to talk about the strategies they used
o say how they are sure that no fewer moves could have been used
z Tell students that a minimum of 15 moves are needed for 3 girls and 3 boys to exchange
places. ask 6 volunteers to demonstrate how this is done. allow the class to help them.
z The teacher will place students in groups and give each group a pre-prepared table as shown
below (Table 1). from here, students will be asked to predict, or work out using counters, the
minimum number of moves needed for 8 persons – 4 on each side – to exchange places and
to complete the table up to the point where 6 persons are on each side.

Table 1 – Exchanging places

Number on each side Minimum number of moves

1 3
2 8
3
4
5
6

z ensure that all tables are completed correctly up to this point (as shown in Table 2 below).

Table 2 – Exchanging places (solution)

Number on each side Minimum number of moves

1 3
2 8
3 15
4 24
5 35
6 48

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 z If students are having challenges completing the table, guide them by asking questions
such as:
a. By how much does the minimum number of moves increase in each case?
b. Is it a constant number? What is special about the numbers by which it increases in
each case?
c. Can you use this to predict the minimum number of moves for other cases?
z after students have completed their tables, ask them to say the minimum number of moves if
there are 36 on each side.
z Discuss why this is a diicult question to answer. ask them to explore the relationship
between the number on each side and the minimum number of moves required. If necessary,
ask guiding questions such as:
d. What are some of the operations you can perform on 1 to get 3?
e. Is there a similar operation that can be performed on 2 to get 8?
f. look at the other corresponding pairs. Is this true for all pairs?
z on the board write
1 is multiplied by 3 to get 3
2 is multiplied by 4 to get 8
3 is multiplied by ___ to get 15
4 is multplied by ___ to get 24
6 is multplied by ___ to get 48
9 is multiplied by ___ to get ___
z Can you write a sentence that describes the relationship between numbers on each side and
the minimum number of moves?
z If you let n represent the number on each side, can you write an algebraic expression for the
sentence you wrote?
z Hence, by what number will 36 be multiplied to get the minimum number of moves?
z By what numbers will the following numbers be multiplied?
g. 19
h. 25

PLENARY
Discuss the various solutions that the groups came up with. ensure that the relationship is clearly
understood.

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 ASSESSMENT
(See continuous assessment checklist below)

Continuous assessment Checklist

Date: ___________________
Group: __________________
Group members: ________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________

Yes No Comment

1. Were students able to model the various

problem scenarios?

2. Was there evidence of logical reasoning

in student discussions?

3. Were students able to complete table

correctly?

4. Were students able to describe relation-

ships in words?

5. Were students able to describe relation-

ships algebraically?

6. Could they apply relationships observed

to solve for unknown cases?

7. Were students engaged in the problem

solving process?

8. What strategies were used to complete

the table?

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

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 LESSON 07 ❍ SUBSTITUTING VALUES INTO EXPRESSIONS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
y use algebraic sentences in solving word problems
y demonstrate the principles of substitution in simple expressions and formulae

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already be able to:
a) add and subtract proiciently
b) explain what a variable is

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Templates for magic square (provided below), deck of algebra cards (see sample template below)

CONTENT OUTLINE
Substitution is the process of replacing symbols or variables with numbers.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
pre-prepare a deck of 5 pairs of cards. one card in each pair will have an algebraic equation (such
as a + b = 5) and the other card will have values for a and b, which when substituted into the
equation make it true (in this case, a = 3 and b = 2 or vice versa). arrange students into groups;
shuffle the deck and give to students and ask them to ind the matching pairs. Create a deck for
each group or repeat a few decks with some groups. (A sample deck is found at the end of the lesson)

Main Activity

a) Tell students that a magic square is a number grid in which the sums of the numbers in each
row, column and diagonal are equal. This common sum is called the magic number. Give each
group a magic square template with one number, say 13, in the centre of the square. explain
to the students that when completed correctly they will have a magic square but in order to
see the magic square they must use the secret code.

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 b) place the following chart on the board with the secret code.

c) Tell students that the letters x , y and z represent three numbers. ask students to look at their
templates and tell you what the value of x is on their template (value is 13).
d) Supply values for y and z and instruct the students to substitute these values into the secret
code to complete the magic square (note that the sum of y and z must not exceed 13).
e) Give each group a new template with another value of x in the centre. Guide students in
selecting values for y and z, telling them that we need numbers whose sum is less than the
value of x, that is, if x is 11, y + z should be less than 11.
f ) allow each group to complete their magic squares using their secret code.
g) after each group has created at least 3 squares, ask them to write an expression to state the
relationship between the magic number for each square they have created and the value of x
in each square.
h) Hence, predict the magic number for a square where
a) x = 24
b) x = 17
c) x = 21
i) predict the value of x, for a square with a magic number of
a) 84
b) 87
c) 138

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 PLENARY/ASSESSMENT

Have each group create a magic square that they share with another group, without sharing with
them the values for x, y and z. each group is to igure out the values for x, y and z that were used
by their classmates to create the square that they got.

Magic Square Template

z= y= z +y = x=

magic number =

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 Sample Deck

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 LESSON 08 ❍ SOLVING SIMPLE EQUATIONS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
l ind “n” in an open mathematical sentence using addition or subtraction with or
without the use of brackets

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should know:
a) how to express simple sentences and worded problems as algebraic expressions
b) the four operations and their inverses

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES:
Beam balance, weights

CONTENT OUTLINE
an equation represents a balance of two mathematical expressions.
To maintain this balance, any operation done on one expression must also be done on the
other.
We can use this idea to solve for unknown values in an equation.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
Students will be engaged in a discussion about two students on a see-saw balance as shown in
the picture on the following page.

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 Relevant questions will be asked to stimulate discussion. for example,
o “How can you tell who is heavier?”
o “Can the see-saw ever be balanced?”
o “What can you say about the weight of the children if the see-saw is balanced?”

Main Activity
z The teacher will place diferent combinations of unit weights and another “unknown” weight
on either side of the balance so that balance is attained. for example, in the diagram below

represents the unit weight and represents the unknown weight

z The students will be guided to write an equation to describe the balanced weights. In our
example: 2x + 3 = x + 9
z Individual students will be asked to add or remove weights from both sides of the balance,
maintaining balance. Students will be required at each adjustment to write an equation to
describe the new situation modelled.
z The students will be divided into groups at the teacher’s discretion. each group will then be
given a balance and a set of marked/known weights and a few unknown.
z each group will be asked to try to create a balance situation using at least one of the unknown
weights. They will be asked to write an equation to describe the modelled situation.
z The students will be asked to use the weights provided to determine the value of the
unknown in terms of the unit weights by adding or removing weights so that balance is
maintained.
z The students will be asked to record on a sheet of cartridge paper, mathematical sentences
for each step that they took.

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 PLENARY
each group will be asked to explain how they found the value of the unknown, using their
cartridge paper as a guide.

ASSESSMENT
each group will be given two pictures of diferent equations modelled and asked to determine
the value of the unknown in each situation.

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 LESSON 09 ❍ CREATING ALGEBRAIC EXPRESSIONS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
l use substitution in solving word problems
l generate algebraic sentences to solve problems

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should already be able to:
a) simplify algebraic expressions

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Boxes, counters

CONTENT OUTLINE
algebra is used to make general statements that are not limited to one particular value. In
situations where any value is possible, using a variable to replace a number is ideal. perform-
ing computation with the variable, in ways similar to how operations on numbers occur,
allows us to say what would happen to any value that is chosen.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
ask students to think of a whole number and perform the following instructions:

z add 7 to the number

z Double the answer
z Subtract 4
z Divide the number by 2
z Subtract the original number

Teacher will reveal a card on which 5 (the number students are expected to obtain) was already
written. after displaying the number teacher will engage students in a discussion to determine
how the teacher was able to guess the correct number.

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 Main Activity
1. Students in groups of 5 or 6 will be given at least 30 counters and two boxes.

2. model the steps with students as follows:

a) Think of a number (shown by placing tiles in the box – here, 2 tiles are shown in the box
for illustrative purposes)

b) add 7 to it (shown by putting 7 tiles beside the box)

c) Double the answer (shown by placing 2 counters in another box and adding 7 more
counters)

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 d) Subtract 4 (remove 4 of the counters)

e) Divide the answer you have now by 2 (remove half the counters and 1 of the boxes)

f ) Subtract the original number (remove the box which represents your original number)

g) only 5 counters are left

3. Do a few more think-of-a-number problems with students (two sample problems are outlined
below). In each case, ask students to model the steps using their tiles and boxes.

Think of a number 1
z Think of a number
z add the next consecutive number to that number
z add 7
z Divide the answer by 2
z Subtract the original number

Think of a number 2
z Think of a number
z add 3 to it
z multiple the answer by 2
z Subtract 4
z Double it

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 z add 4
z Divide by 4
z Subtract the original number
4. ask students to use a letter to represent the rectangle (which represents the unknown
number) and to write down the number of tiles/counters in each step. This is modelled below:

Think of a number

Add 7 to it

n+7
Double the answer

2(n + 7) = 2n + 14

Subtract 4 from the answer

(2n + 14) – 4 = 2n + 10

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 Divide the answer by 2

(2n + 10) ÷ 2 = n + 5

Subtract the original number

(n + 5) – n = 5

PLENARY
Give each group a sheet of cartridge paper and ask them to make up a think-of-a-number
activity. It should have at least 4 steps and they should be able to predict the answer at the
end. They should use rectangles and squares to model the activity on the cartridge paper and
should also use a letter to represent the unknown number. finally, they should describe each
step being modelled by making up and simplifying algebraic expressions. These are to be
mounted on the wall.

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 LESSON 10 ❍ CREATING EQUATIONS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 6
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
l write rules for given number patterns
l write equations or expressions from given number patterns
l ind solutions for equations

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should be able to:
a) express simple sentences and word problems as algebraic expressions
b) solve simple equations

MATERIAL/MANIPULATIVE
Calendar

CONTENT OUTLINE
algebraic expressions can be used to describe the relationship between two quantities. If the
value of a quantity is not known or varies, a variable is used in its place.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
Class will begin by students doing a quick revision of how to solve simple equations and wri
ting algebraic expressions. Students will use the calendar to produce algebraic expressions to see
mathematical relationships between days. The teacher will guide students’ thinking by asking
questions such as:
– If today is Friday when will the next Friday be?
Students will be guided into generating the expression x + 7 to represent the next occurrence of
today’s day or x + 14, x + 21, etc. for other occurrences.

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 Main Activity
Students will be placed in groups. The number of students in each group will depend on the
discretion of the teacher. each group will be given a calendar and an activity sheet with the
instructions students will be engaged in.

M AY
M T W T F S S
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31

o each group will be assigned a number which is the sum of four days that form a square on
the calendar – for example, 80 (the sum of the four days chosen from the calendar above and
shown in the diagram below).
16 17
23 24

o Group members will be required to ind the square whose sum gives the number assigned to
the group. Group members will be required to devise a method using algebra and arithmetic
to ind the four days.
o Their responses and the approaches taken will be discussed. The teacher will prompt students
to assign a variable to any of the 4 numbers in the square. for example, if the irst day in their
square was m, write algebraic expressions for the four days in the square:

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 o Discuss ways in which this can be used to form an equation to determine the value of m and
hence the other numbers in the square.

o For example,
m + m + 1 + m + 7 + m + 8 = 80
o Groups will be required to compete against each other by alternating which group
provides the sum and which supplies the numbers for the dates and vice versa. They will be
encouraged to ind other methods of determining the numbers in the square.

PLENARY/ASSESSMENT
z Class will listen to each group giving a brief description of the strategies used in inding the
expressions and solving the equation. Teacher will ask questions like
– Did you arrive at any strategy to ind the dates in the square?
– What simpler ways can you use to ind the dates in the square?
for example
y Method 1: add any four numbers that are in a square
y Method 2: divide the number assigned by four and then subtract 4 to ind the irst date
in the square.

z Students will be further asked to ind out how these steps work and why.

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 LESSON 11 ❍ ALGEBRAIC EXPRESSIONS
GRADE LEVEL: Grade 6
DURATION: 1 hour

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
l write algebraic expressions with two variables to express information in real-life problems
l substitute in algebraic expressions with up to two variables
l ind replacements for variables that make number sentences true
l generate calculations involving the four operations based on story problems

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students should be able to:
a) express simple sentences and word problems as algebraic expressions
b) solve simple equations

MATERIALS/MANIPULATIVES
Two-sided number cards (cards with a diferent number on either side), 8 small containers, coun-
ters and code sheet prepared by teacher

CONTENT OUTLINE
algebraic expressions can be used to describe the relationship between two quantities. If the
value of a quantity is not known or varies, a variable is used in its place.

PROCEDURE
Mental/Oral Starters
place students in groups. Give each group a 2-sided number card (showing, for example, 5 and 9).
Tell students that many possible operations link the two numbers on the number card. Challenge
them to write at least 5 equations that relate the numbers on both sides of the card. for example,
with a card with 5 on the front and 9 on the back, the following are 4 possible equations:
a) 2x – 1 = 9 [x = 5]
b) x + 4 = 9 [x = 5]
c) x – 4 = 5 [x = 9]
d) (x – 1) ÷ 2 = 4 [x = 9]

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 Main Activity
Divide the class into groups of 3 or 4. Instruct each group to select a recorder to keep an
account of the events beginning in Step 6. Distribute 8 containers and 80 counters to each
group.
1. each group is assigned a diferent letter of the alphabet and each of the group’s 8 containers
is labelled with the lowercase form of that letter.
2. each group chooses a “secret number” between one and ten and informs the teacher of its
choice. The teacher keeps a record of all secret numbers on the code sheet.
3. Have each group place the secret number of counters in each of its eight containers.
4. each group will now have 8 containers, each of which contains the same number of counters
and the same letter of the alphabet. Discuss ways to express the total number of counters in
all 8 containers. for example:
m+m+m+m+m+m+m+m
or
x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x

Build on that idea: 8m or 8x (algebraic expression)

5. Have each group exchange some containers with one other group. exchanging groups
negotiate how many containers to exchange. for example, 3 m’s are exchanged for 3 x’s. each
group records its holdings in the following manner:

m + m + m + m + m + x + x + x or 5m + 3x

and
x + x + x + x + x + m + m + m or 5x + 3m
(algebraic expressions)
6. each group informs the teacher of its new way(s) of representing the eight containers. The
teacher checks his or her code sheet to tell the group the total number of counters in the
eight containers the group now has. for example, the teacher who knows the values for the
m and y will supply the group with the total value for this new expression. The irst group has
5m + 3x counters; the teacher tells them they have 22 counters.
7. present the new information collected in algebraic form(s). Discuss, if necessary, how to write
an equation to express the total number of counters. for example, 5m + 3x = 22.
8. each group substitutes for the letter that represents its variable and solves for the other
group’s variable in the algebraic equation it has developed.

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 9. Groups continue to trade until they have discovered each group’s secret number. encourage
students to keep solutions within their group so each group can make its own discoveries
independently.
10. Groups now open their containers to reveal secret numbers for veriication of solutions.

PLENARY
a member from each group will share the group’s experiences, elaborating on how they were
able to determine the variable of one of the other groups.

ASSESSMENT
Students are assessed through informal observation and formal written Evaluation Worksheet,
to see if they were able to develop equations or expressions from self-created story problems and
solve them. for example,

Mary had 2 packs of red pencils and 5 packs of blue pencils. In all she
has 29 pencils. If there are 3 pencils in the blue pack, how many pencils
are in the red pack?

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