Writing Number Sentences
Write simple numerical expressions that record calculations with numbers, and interpret numerical expressions without evaluating them (e.g. recognise that 3 × (18932 + 921) is three times as large as 18932 + 921)
Lesson
Set out your lesson
Write grouped number expressions and explain their structure without needing to calculate their totals.
Before teaching
Use this short check, then start teaching.
Ask what the brackets group in 3 × (6 + 2). Expect the sum 6 + 2. Ask whether that sum is positive. If the learner only gives the final result, ask them to describe the operations before calculating. Revisit brackets if needed.
Check readiness directly. Prerequisite availability is not attainment.
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Teaching approaches
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1 approach
Write grouped number expressions and explain their structure without needing to calculate their totals.
Write grouped number expressions and explain their structure without needing to calculate their totals.
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Learning resources
Extra practice links — they do not replace Gakuva’s teaching approach.
Illustrative Mathematics · Practice link — not the full lesson
Words to Expressions 1
Before you open · source notes
Words to Expressions 1 supports writing number sentences from words. Not every geometry proof.
Free, no sign-in. A teacher solution is on the same page, so use the student view with your child.
Before you openAsk the learner to write a number sentence that matches the words.
Opening this link does not save learning or assess mastery.
Source, access and review notes
Public Illustrative Mathematics task page. The .html address responds HTTP 308 to this URL. An anonymous GET of this URL on 2026-11-12 returned HTTP 200 with no login or payment prompt. Where a teacher solution is present, it is on the same page as the student task; this check did not find a separate locked student view. An adult can use the student view section and should not read a solution aloud. Advertising was not observed in the fetched HTML text; that is not a browser, device, or ad-free guarantee. This is a paper or discussion task, not an automatically marked interactive game. Opening the link does not save practice or assess mastery. Diagrams on the page use missing or filename-only alt text, so they are not an accessible image equivalent. Accessibility still depends on an adult describing the picture.
Illustrative Mathematics. “Words to Expressions 1.” Licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. External task; Gakuva does not copy, host, embed, or redistribute it.
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — link only
Check understanding
- Write an expression for 'add 8 and 7, then multiply by 2' using parentheses
- Explain what 4 × (365 − 12) represents without computing it
- Compare two expressions and determine which is larger without evaluating
“Can your child look at '4 × (5 + 3)' and say 'that's 4 times the result of adding 5 and 3' — reading the expression as a description of a calculation, without having to work it out first?”
Curriculum record
- Type
- Representational
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Domain
- Multiplication & Division
- Age range
- Ages 10–12
Standards