| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) interpret the letter n in a sentence as a hidden number (the box renamed); (2) solve simple n-sentences in addition; (3) state that n can stand for different numbers in different sentences. |
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| Materials | The n-card from the easel; parallel strips (each box-sentence beside its n twin); counters and cups; whiteboards. |
| Key vocabulary | n, letter, stands for, the same job |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) The christening: the easel card at last — 3 + n = 5. "Mathematicians got tired of drawing boxes... so they use a LETTER. Meet n. Same hiding place, fancier door." The class solves it instantly: n is 2. Anticlimax BY DESIGN — and the children feel brilliant. |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. Twin strips: each box-sentence beside its n-version (4 + ☐ = 7 / 4 + n = 7) — solved in pairs, twins confirmed identical. 2. The shape-shifter lesson: n is 2 in one sentence, 6 in the next — "n is not A number; n is WHOSE-EVER number the sentence hides" (said simply, absorbed slowly). 3. Solo flight: six pure n-sentences, addition, all positions, cups on standby. 4. Writing n: the letter practised — a hook and a bridge; n enters the children's own handwriting. |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) The formal welcome: "n = 2" written with the equals sign — reading it aloud: "n IS two." The sentence and its solution, stated like mathematicians. |
| Assessment | Solo strips: 5 of 6 n-sentences solved; the twin-identity stated ("n is the box with a name"); n = __ notation used once. |
| Teacher notes | The deliberate anticlimax is the pedagogy: algebra must feel like a NAME for what children already do, never a wall. The shape-shifter idea (n varies by sentence) is genuinely deep — plant it lightly, water it all week. |
| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) solve n-sentences in subtraction across positions (7 - n = 4; n - 3 = 5); (2) transfer box strategies wholesale to n; (3) write solutions in n = __ form. |
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| Materials | Subtraction n-strips; triangles; cups and mats for the front-position ritual; whiteboards. |
| Key vocabulary | n, take away, parts, whole |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) n crosses the street: 8 - n = 5 on the board. "Different letter-look, same alley: 8 whole, 5 showing, n hides the rest." Cup lifted: n = 3. The strategies survived the renaming intact. |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. Position tour in n-clothing: end (9 - 4 = n), middle (7 - n = 2), and the Everest front (n - 3 = 5 — the whole is the parts together: n = 8) with the honoured two-supported-one-solo ritual. 2. Triangle counsel: every n-sentence located in its fact family before solving — the master key's final commission. 3. Nine-pack solo: mixed positions, n = __ notation required on every answer. 4. Read-back seal on all: "eight minus three IS five — n is eight, TRUE." |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) The Everest ceremony: one volunteer conquers a fresh front-position n-sentence at the board; the class narrates the parts-whole reasoning with them. |
| Assessment | Nine-packs: 6 of 9 with n = __ notation; one front-position attempted with the reframe; triangle used as evidence at least once. |
| Teacher notes | Every strategy from the box week transfers untouched — make the transfer EXPLICIT ("your box tools work on n") so children experience mathematics as cumulative power, not endless novelty. |
| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) translate simple stories into n-sentences; (2) solve the translated sentence and answer the story's question; (3) identify what n stands for in each story. |
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| Materials | Story cards with a hidden quantity ("Marc had some marbles, won 3 more, now has 8"); translation frames (story → n-sentence → solution → answer sentence); whiteboards. |
| Key vocabulary | translate, n stands for, answer the story |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) The story with a hole: "Marc had SOME marbles..." — some! The story itself hides a number. "What do mathematicians use for a hidden number?" The class roars it: n! The story becomes n + 3 = 8. |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. The four-step frame modelled: story → n-sentence (n + 3 = 8) → solve (n = 5) → ANSWER THE STORY ("Marc had 5 marbles") — the last step matters most; n serves the story, not itself. 2. Pairs translate four story cards through the full frame, money stories among them (Week 2's tales, now in letters!). 3. The what-is-n interview on each: "In THIS story, n stands for...?" ("Marc's starting marbles!") — n always MEANS something. 4. Reverse authorship: one n-sentence given bare; pairs write a story it could belong to. |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) Story-and-letter showcase: two translations presented start to finish; the reverse-authored stories read to delighted recognition. |
| Assessment | Frames: 3 of 4 stories translated and answered fully; what-is-n answered on each; reverse story plausibly matches its sentence. |
| Teacher notes | Translation both directions (story→symbol, symbol→story) is complete early algebra — nothing in the strand's Grade 1 ambitions exceeds this lesson. The answer-the-story discipline prevents the symbol-shuffling emptiness that hollows out later algebra. |
| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) solve mixed n-sentences with speed and confidence in game settings; (2) apply n across operations, positions and stories; (3) demonstrate readiness for the strand checkpoint. |
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| Materials | n-track game boards; dice; the story deck; n-bingo cards (answers on cards, sentences called); the quiet sampling table. |
| Key vocabulary | n, solve, fluent |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) Festival gates: the week's journey chanted — "Box... to n... to STORIES!" A five-flash warm-up rally, whiteboards blazing. |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. n-Bingo: sentences called, answer-numbers covered — full-class fluency in festival dress. 2. n-Track in pairs: land, solve, advance; front-positions marked as double-move squares (risk and reward!). 3. Story corner: two fresh tales through the four-step frame. 4. The quiet table samples every child: three mixed n-sentences plus one story translation — the strand's final data. |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) Festival close: the easel card retired with honours to the Hall of Fame wall. "In September you sorted seeds. Today you solve for n. THAT is a year of mathematics." |
| Assessment | Quiet-table: 2 of 3 n-sentences plus the translation attempted with strategy — the algebra strand's summative record per child. |
| Teacher notes | The strand closes here; Week 10 will only garnish it. Children secure on today's sample have banked a concept most curricula defer for years — the Caribbean scope's early-algebra ambition, honoured in full. |
| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) demonstrate n-sentence solving and story translation (consolidation); (2) complete the week checkpoint. |
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| Materials | Strip packs; story deck; triangles; checklist. |
| Key vocabulary | All week vocabulary |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) Warm-up: the box-to-n biography in one breath; three flash-sentences; one what-is-n interview. |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) Round-up circuit with checklist: Table 1: six mixed n-sentences with notation. Table 2: one story through the four-step frame. Table 3: one reverse authorship (sentence to story). Table 4 (choice): the strand poster — "n is..." completed in each child's own words and art. Teacher records; the Week 6-7 profile completes. |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) Posters raised together — a gallery of six-year-old definitions of a variable. Preview: "Next week our data grows PICTURES — one picture for every answer — and the class builds its greatest graph!" |
| Assessment | Week 7 checkpoint: n-solving by operation/position; both translation directions. The two-week algebra profile finalised for reports. |
| Teacher notes | Save the "n is..." posters — they are the most quotable assessment artefacts of the year, and next year's Grade 1 teacher will not believe them without evidence. |