Algebra Lesson plan

Lesson name/ number: Algebra 1

Subject area/s: Mathematics

Grade: 6

Learning Targets:
I can generalize to make a rule following a pattern using a variable.
Culture Targets:
o I can focus on the task at hand
o I can listen attentively to anyone sharing and wait for my turn to share

Time /
Duration

Teacher

5 min

Share the culture targets:

o I can focus on the task at hand
o I can listen attentively to anyone
sharing and wait for my turn to
share

15 min

Today we are going to listen to a story of a

family who went on a camping trip.

Students
Children listen attentively to the story.

Strategies &
Classroom
dynamics

Resources
Whiteboard and
marker
Jodo-Cubes
Word-problems
printed slips

Rajat and Maheshwari along with their

parents went on a camping trip to the
_______ forest. They decided on a spot to
camp and set up their tents. After finishing
work, father suggested that they collect
some wood for a campfire. There was
quite a lot of dry wood perfect for a
campfire lying about in the forest and they
1

collected the necessary amount quickly.

Father and mother started working on
getting dinner ready. Now Rajat and
Maheshwari were getting bored. The twigs
they had collected were lying near them
and they started playing with it.
Maheshwari took three twigs and made a
triangle ( ). Rajat took three more
twigs and made another triangle next to
the one Maheshwari had made ( ).
This game of making shapes was very
interesting for the two children and they
started making a string of triangles
(Draw 5). They made a pattern of 5
triangles. Mother looked at what they
were doing and was curious to know how
many twigs they used to make 5 triangles.
Rajat immediately started counting twigs
one by one. He said that they used 15
twigs. Maheshwari was just looking at the
triangles they had made and started
making a table like this:
No. of s
No. of twigs
She filled the first column like this:
No. of s
1
No. of twigs 3
Ask children What do you think the rest
of columns will look like? Take responses
from children and fill up the table like this:
No. of s
1
2
3
4
5
No. of twigs 3
6
9
12 15
2

Looking at this table, Maheshwari and

Rajat see a pattern.
Can you think what the pattern is?
Think-Pair-Share: Think individually
about the pattern first and then share with
your neighbour.
Maheshwari and Rajat also find the same
pattern.
Write the rule on the board: The number
of twigs required is thrice the number of
the triangles.
They are really excited about finding this
rule because now they can find out the
number of twigs for any number of
triangles they want to make. Mother tells
them, that there is a special way to write
this rule in mathematics and writes it like
this:
Number of twigs = 3 x t
So can anyone explain what this means?

3 x t can also be written as 3t.

So how many twigs will be needed to make
20 triangles?
36 triangles?
200 triangles?
500 triangles?

Children observe the table and think about

the pattern.
Expected response: The number of twigs
required is thrice (/three times) the
number of the triangles.

Think-Pair-Share

The letter T stands for Triangle. So this is a

way of showing that the number of twigs
required is thrice the number of triangles.

Whole class
discussion

60 twigs
108 twigs
600 twigs
1500 twigs

10 min

Ask children to think about what the word

variable means and how it can apply here
in mathematics?

Variable means something that changes

and is not the same.

Explain the meaning of variable:

t is an example of a variable. Its value is
not fixed; it can take any value
1, 2, 3, 4 ... We wrote the rule for the
number of twigs required using the
variable t.
Project the following patterns one by one
on the white board
1. The Letter F: FFFF
2. The Letter X: XXXXX
Ask children to think about and share the
rule. Ask them to explain how it works
15 min

Display this problem on the board:

A company makes colored rods by joining
cubes in a row and using a sticker machine
to place smiley stickers on the rods. The
machine places exactly one sticker on each
exposed face of each cube. Every exposed
face of each cube has to have a sticker, so
this length-2 rod would need 10 stickers.

Children think about the patterns and find

the rules:
1. 4f (4 times the number of straws)
2. 2x (2 times the number of straws)

Whole class
discussion

Children arrive at the formula of 4n + 2.

Other expressions such as 6 + 4 (n-1) or
4(n-2) + 10 are also correct if children
come up with them.

Individual work

Explain how you could find the number of

stickers needed for a rod of any length.
Write a rule that you could use to
determine this.
4

Children can be provided with jodo-cubes

to help them visualize the problem.
This drawing will also help if they get
stuck to arrive at the 4n + 2 rule.

15 min

Ask children to share their rule and

how/why it works.
Encourage children to draw table and its
imp in finding rule.
This table has four chairs around it.

Two tables joined together have six chairs

around them.

Number of chairs = 2 t + 2

Three tables joined together have eight

chairs around them.

Consolidation

If we take t as the number of tables, can

you form an expression for the number of
chairs that can be placed around a table?
Ask children to share their key learnings of the day. Teacher notes it on a flip chart.

Differentiated
learning

For children who are ahead of class, the cube problem can be made more challenging by
asking them to think about how to find the number of cubes if there are 150 stickers.

Home
assignments

NCERT Textbook Ex. 11.1 Q 1(all sub-divisions), 2, 11(a, b)

Whole class
discussion

Flipchart and
marker

Lesson name/ number: Algebra 2

Learning Targets:
I can use variables to explain simple contexts.
Culture Targets:
o I can focus on the task at hand
o I can listen attentively to anyone sharing and wait for my turn to share
Time /
Duration

Teacher

5 min

Share CTs:
o I can focus on the task at hand
o I can listen attentively to anyone
sharing and wait for my turn to
share

15 min

Discuss the solutions to homework, esp.

questions 11 (a) and (b).
Recap what a variable is.

15 min

Strategies &
Classroom
dynamics

Students

Whiteboard and
marker
Worksheet with
word problems

Children share that a variable is a letter

used to represent an unknown quantity.

Project the following problems one by one

on the whiteboard and have a whole class
discussion. Write all the different ways
children come up with solutions:
Sarita says that she has 10 more marbles
in her collection than Ameena. So how can
we use a variable to write the number of
marbles Sarita has?
Raju and Balu are brothers. Balu is
younger than Raju by 3 years. How can we

Resources

Whole class
discussion
Whole class
discussion

Number of marbles Sarita has = a + 10

Balus age 1 2

6
7

write the ages of both Balu and Raju using

variables?
Amit and Narendar are excited because it
is Diwali which means lots of sweets and
both of them love eating sweets. Their
Dadi Ma tells them that a neighbour has
given a box of Laddoos which is in the
kitchen. Both Amit and Narendar race to
the kitchen and eat the laddoos. Narendar
eats 4 laddoos more than Amit. How can
we show the number of laddoos Narendar
eats using a variable? Let us use l as the
variable for the number of laddoos.
After eating laddoos, Amit and Narendar
meet their cousin Shilpa. They want to
play with fire crackers now. Narendar is
not very fond of fire crackers because they
are noisy and cause pollution. He bursts 3
less than Amit. Shilpa really loves fire
crackers because they are look really
beautiful in the night sky. She bursts 5
more than Amit. If Amit burst f fire
crackers, how many did Narendar and
Shilpa burst?
15 min

Rajus age 4 5
Balus age = r - 3
Rajus age = b+3
Amit
Narendar

1
5

2
6

3
7

4
8

5
9

Number of laddoos Narendar eats = l + 4

Amit
Narendar

3
0

4
1

5
2

Amit
Shilpa

3
8

4
9

5
10

6
3

7
4
6
11

7
12

Number of fire crackers Narendar bursts =

f3
Number of fire crackers Shilpa bursts = f +
5

Give the following word problems on

printed slips to children and ask them to
work out these problems independently in
their notebooks:
Manu and Smriti are getting ready a
rangoli for Diwali. They want to make it

Worksheet
problems done
individually

Flowers
Diyas

2
1

4
2

6
3
8

interesting by arranging diyas on the

rangoli. They decide to place 1 diya for
every 2 flowers in their rangoli. If there
are r flowers in their rangoli, then how
many diyas should Manu and Smriti get?

Number of diyas is half the number of

flowers
Number of diyas required = r/2

Students went to buy notebooks from the

school bookstore. Price of one notebook is
Rs.5. Munnu wants to buy 5 notebooks,
Appu wants to buy 7 notebooks, Sara
wants to buy 4 notebooks and so on. How
much money should a student carry when
she or he goes to the bookstore to buy
notebooks?

Notebooks 1 2
3
Money
5 10 15
Money required is 5 times the number of
notebooks.
Money required = 5n

For the Republic Day celebration in the

school, children are going to perform mass
drill in the presence of the chief guest.
They stand 10 in a row. How many
children can there be in the drill?
Optional problem:
In a theater there are 6 seats in the first
row. Each row after the first row contains
4 more seats than the row before it. Below
is a diagram of the first 3 rows in the
theater.

Rows
1
Children 10

2
20

3
30

4
40

5
50

Number of children in drill = 10r

1
6

2
10

3
14

4
18

5
22

6
26

4n + 2

Explain how you would determine the

number of seats in any row. Write a rule
9

that would allow you to calculate the

number of seats in any row. Explain your
rule.
Consolidation

Ask children to share their key learnings of the day. Teacher notes it on a flip chart.

Home
assignments

NCERT Textbook Ex.11.1 Q3-10

Whole class
discussion

Flipchart and
marker

10

Lesson name/ number: Algebra 3

Learning Targets:
I can use variables to make an expression.
I can tell the difference between numerical and algebraic expressions.
I can use variables and numbers to make an expression on a practical situations in everyday life
Culture Targets:
o I can focus on the task at hand
o I can listen attentively to anyone sharing and wait for my turn to share
Time /
Duration

Teacher

Students

Strategies &
Classroom
dynamics

Share CTs:
o I can focus on the task at hand
o I can listen attentively to anyone
sharing and wait for my turn to
share
5 min

Discuss answers to homework questions.

5 min

Recap what a variable is.

5-10 min

Resources
Whiteboard and
marker
Word problems
worksheet

Children share that a variable is a letter

used to represent an unknown quantity.

Popcorn sharing

Ask children what the word expression

Expression is showing what we are
might mean. Write the words children
thinking or feeling like a smile, or angry
come up with for expression. Talk about
face, writing/drawing something.
body language, language of art, language in
which we write ((circle all words related
to one category and ask what the category
could be).
Ask them to think what an expression in
mathematics can be. (or) What kind of

Language of mathematics numbers,

variables and operations
E.g. 3t, x+4 etc.
11

language can expressions in mathematics

use?
Write some expressions on the board and
ask children which are the ones that are
expressions according to them.
(2 10) + 3,
3 100 + (2 10) + 4
3 + (4 5)
8 (7 2)
14 (5 2)
(6 2) 5
(5 7) (3 4)
7 + (8 2) (5 7) (3 4 7)
y+5
t7
10 a
x/3
3x+2
2y5
(Clarify that all of these are expressions)
Ask if 10a is same as 10+a.

10 min
Ask them to find some similarities/
differences in the expressions listed on the
board and if they can put them in some
categories. Give some time to think and
then take responses

Some children might say all are

expressions, some might say that only the
ones with variables are expressions.

Some children might say that they are the

same. In this case, ask them to replace
variable a with a number and check if
both are same.
Children can come up with different kinds
of categories, for example:
expressions with only numbers and
with both numbers & variables
expressions with more than one
operation and with just one
operation

Whole class
discussion

12

Write down the categories that children

come up with on the board and pay
attention to the numbers vs numbers and
variables. Talk about Numerical
expressions and Algebraic expressions.

expressions where value can be

found and where value cannot be
found

Ask for examples for numerical and

algebraic expressions
10 min

Notebook work: Tell children that they

will form expressions using the numbers
6, 2 and the variable a. Variable a must
be present in every expression
Some responses can be shared in whole
class and written on the board.

10 min

Discuss questions from Ex. 11.3, Q 1 and 2

orally in class. Children solve the problems
in notebook at home.
Next 1 hour
Tell children that we will practice writing
expressions from real-life situations.
Provide the following word problems in
printed slips to children and ask them to
write the expressions.
Vicky and the other hikers are trying to
divide up all of the things that they need

Children come with expressions like:

6+a
a/2
6a
6a + 2
2+a
6a 2
2a
2a + 6
6a
2a 6
6/a
6/a + 2
a/6
6/a 2
2a
a/6 + 2
2/a
a/6 2
Children solve the questions in their
notebooks at home

Individual
notebook work

Individual work

Individual work

Each person can carry x/7 items

13

for their trip. The group wants the division

of items to be equitable so that each
person carries the same amount. If there
are seven hikers, and they have x items,
then how much will each person carry?

She has to read x/72 pages every day

Kamala has to read a book over summer
during her summer vacation
vacation. She doesn't have the book yet so
she's not sure how many pages it has.
Kamala doesn't want to wait until the last
minute to read the book, so she is planning
to read the same number of pages each
day of her summer vacation. If Kamalas
summer vacation is 72 days, how can she
write a variable expression to represent
the number of pages she will need to read
each day?
Risha uses 5l cups of flour each day to
Risha is a baker who makes the same
make bread
number of loaves of bread each day. He
uses 5 cups of flour in each loaf of bread.
Write an expression to represent the
number of cups of flour he uses each day
making bread.

5 min

Ali went fishing and caught 14 fish. He

Ali has 14 f fish left
came home, cooked some of the fish and
ate them. Write an expression to represent
the number of fish Ali has left.
Display the left column of the following
table. Ask children to think how to write
them as expressions. Take responses and
write the expressions on the board.

Whole class
discussion

14

12 subtracted from z
25 added to r
p multiplied by 16
y divided by 8
y multiplied by 10 and then 7
added to the product
n multiplied by 2 and 1
subtracted from the product
5 + 15 min

z 12
r + 25
16 p
y/8

10 y + 7
2n1

Write the expression x+4 on the board.

Discuss how to make a situation matching
the expression. Take responses from ~5
children (sharing of different situations)
Crew Work: Give 2 expressions to each
crew from the following and ask children
to make situations out of it: [These can be
written on chits and given to crews]
l+5
r/6
t8
10w
2c + 1
5d
9+d
20 2x
3/f
4m
3n+2
a-4

2 min Individual
work Write
down situations
for the
expressions in
notebooks.
5 min share with
each other
5 min Report out
one situation for
each expression
from each crew.

Discuss answers after everyone has

completed the questions.
15

Consolidation

Ask children to share their key learnings of the day. Teacher notes it on a flip chart.

Differentiated
learning

For children who are finding it difficult to process the information, give a hint to the
variable quantity and specify a letter they can use. For example, use l for number of
loaves.
If a child is ahead of the class then challenge by giving a problem that involves two
variables for example, what is Kamala has to read two books in summer both having
different number of pages that she doesnt know?
NCERT Textbook Ex. 11.3 Q 1 and 2
NCERT Textbook Ex.11.3 rest of the questions (3(a-c),4 (a-d) 5, and 6)
NCERT Textbook Ex.11.4 all questions (2 and 3 discussion in class verbally and then
write as homework.)
Children can talk to parents (after talking about using algebraic expressions in real-life
situations in class) and discuss some situations they face in their lives where they use
algebraic expressions. They can write down one or two examples and share in class next
day.

Home
assignments

Whole class
discussion

Flipchart and
marker

16

Lesson name/ number: Algebra 4

Learning Targets:
I can use variables to make general rules in Geometry
I can make expressions on commutative, associative and distributive property of numbers.
Culture Targets:
o I can focus on the task at hand
o I can listen attentively to anyone sharing and wait for my turn to share
Time /
Duration

Teacher

Students

5 min

Share CTs:
o I can focus on the task at hand
o I can listen attentively to anyone
sharing and wait for my turn to
share

10-15 min

Discuss homework questions.

15 min

Tell children that we will be finding

perimeters of square and rectangle today.
Recap what a perimeter means.

Perimeter is the total length of all sides of a

shape.

Draw a square on the board. Ask children

for properties of a square.

All sides of a square are equal

Write the number 8 cm on one side of the

square. Ask children to find the perimeter.

8 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 32
Or 4 x 8 = 32
Perimeter of square = 4 s

Ask children how to generalize the rule to

find the perimeter of any square.
15 min

Draw a rectangle on the board. Ask

children its properties.

Strategies &
Classroom
dynamics
Whole class
discussion

Resources
Whiteboard and
marker

Opposite sides of a rectangle are equal

17

15 min

Write the length and breadth of the

rectangle as 10 cm and 6 cm respectively.
Ask children to find the perimeter.

10 + 10 + 6 + 6 = 32
2 x 10 + 2 x 6 = 32

Ask children how we can generalize the

rule to find the perimeter of any rectangle.

Perimeter of rectangle = 2 l + 2 b

Ask children to give examples for

1. Commutative property of addition
2. Commutative property of
multiplication
3. Associative property of addition
4. Associative property of
multiplication
5. Distributive property
[If needed, take some time to recap these
terms]
Now challenge them to think of an
expression using variables for each
situation.
If they need help, model the first
expression on the board with the whole
class. It is not necessary for every child to
understand the generalization of
distributive property

Consolidation
Home
assignments

Children give examples similar to the

following
3+4=4+3
3x4=4x3

Think-Pair-Share

3+4+7=3+7+4
2x6x5=2x5x6
2 (6 + 5) = 2 x 6 + 2 x 5

+ =+
=
++ =++
=
( + ) = +

Take responses from children and discuss

the expressions for these properties.
Ask children to share their key learnings of the day. Teacher notes it on a flip chart.

Whole class
discussion
Whole class
discussion

Flipchart and
marker

NCERT Textbook Ex.11.2 Qs 1-4

18

Lesson name/ number: Algebra 5

Learning Targets:
I can comprehend simple situations/problems and use variables to solve them.
I can solve simple equations (with one variable and monomial on both sides) using trial and error method.
I can differentiate between an expression and an equation.
Culture Targets:
o I can focus on the task at hand
o I can listen attentively to anyone sharing and wait for my turn to share
Time /
Duration

Teacher

5 min

Share CTs:
o I can focus on the task at hand
o I can listen attentively to anyone
sharing and wait for my turn to
share

10 min

Discuss homework
Draw a balance on the board. Write 2 + 6
on left side of the balance and ask children
what can be written on the right side to
make the balance stable. Ask children for
as many options as they can think of and
not just 8. Write childrens responses on
the board.
Could I have written 2+6 = 9+1? What
would have happened?
To show the balance, we use the symbol =.

10 min

Students

Strategies &
Classroom
dynamics

Resources
Whiteboard and
marker
Self-reflection
sheet

Children say that 8 can be written on the

right side of the balance.
7+1, 9-1, 100-92, 6 + 2 etc

No. There would be imbalance.

Below the balance, write the numerical

equation: 2 + 6 = 8 = 7+1

19

Introduce the terminology Equation,

Left Hand Side and Right Hand Side of the
equation
15 min

Use another example like 5 + 4 = 9 = 10-1

=4+5
Write the following on the board and ask
children to identify the equations and
equations with variables in it.

x + 20 = 70
8 3 = 24
n 4 = 100
20b = 80
Equation because it is balanced, has an =
sign

x + 20 = 70
8 3 = 24
2p > 30
n 4 = 100
20b = 80
y/8 < 50
How did you decide which is an
equation?

10 min

Take the x + 20 = 70 example. Ask

children how we can find the value of x?
[Use the image of a balance if necessary]
Ask children to find solutions for n 4 =
100 and 20b = 80. Take responses from
children and write the solution on the
board.

Give the following simple equations and

ask children to solve them in their
notebooks.
2 x = 12
l4=6
20

5 + p = 20
r + 10 = 30
p3=7
3 n = 21
2l+3=7
y + 8 = 28
t 7 = 40
10 a = 60
3 s + 2 = 17
Consolidation

Ask children to share their key learnings of the day. Teacher notes it on a flip chart.

Home
assignments

NCERT Textbook - Ex.11.5 All questions

Whole class
discussion

Flipchart and
marker

21