Description
What our Find the Missing Number: Advanced lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Find the Missing Number teaches students how to find missing numbers in different equations. At the end of the lesson, students will be able to solve for a missing number in an equation using inverse operations and use properties of operations to solve missing number equations. They will also understand the position of the equal sign does not change the solution of an equation. This lesson is for students in the 1st grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the blue box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand. Some supplies you will need for this lesson include pencils, pens, and highlighters.
Options for Lesson
Included with this lesson is an “Options for Lesson” section that lists a number of suggestions for activities to add to the lesson or substitutions for the ones already in the lesson. If you have more advanced students, you can increase the difficulty level in the Activity by giving your students a list of numbers that can only be used once; for example, each digit 0 – 9 can only be used once to make each mystery equation true. You could then have students mark off which numbers they have used at the top of their page. If there is no room to create a scavenger hunt for the cards, you can also write problems on index cards for each group and then have students solve them together.
Teacher Notes
The teacher notes page includes a paragraph with additional guidelines and things to think about as you begin to plan your lesson. This page also includes lines that you can use to add your own notes as you’re preparing for this lesson.
FIND THE MISSING NUMBER LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Find the Missing Number
The Find the Missing Number lesson plan includes two content pages. Sometimes, you will come across a problem where a number is missing. For example, take a look at the equation 6 + ? = 10. In this case, the missing digit (signified by the question mark) is 4, because 6 + 4 = 10.
You can find missing numbers in addition problems like these by taking the biggest number and subtracting the smallest number. The answer is your missing digit! To solve the above problem, we could subtract the smallest number, 6, by the biggest number, 10: 10 – 6 = 4. You can also ask yourself what you could add to 6 to get 10, and count up from 6 to 10 to figure it out.
We call addition and subtraction inverse operations, which means that they’re the opposite of each other. Adding is putting two or more things together, while subtracting is taking apart a whole. Adding parts equals the whole, while subtracting a part from the whole equals the other part. You can use both of these methods to find missing numbers.
The lesson includes a few more examples. Take a look at the problem 15 – ? = 4. To solve, you can use addition (4 + 11 = 15) or subtraction (15 – 4 = 11) to find the missing number, 11. Sometimes, the addition symbol will be in the front of the problem, but that doesn’t matter. You can solve using the same methods.
Some problems will be a little more complicated. Take a look at the problem 11 + 2 = ? + 5. First, you need to find the value of 11 + 2, which is 13. Then you solve for the missing number as usual, using subtraction (13 – 5 = 8) or addition (5 + 8 = 13). The missing number in this problem is 8.
FIND THE MISSING NUMBER LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Find the Missing Number lesson plan includes three worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, and a homework assignment. You can refer to the guide on the classroom procedure page to determine when to hand out each worksheet.
MYSTERY NUMBERS ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
For the lesson activity, students will cut out the numbers on the worksheet. They will then paste the numbers next to the problem that solves the mystery numbers. They will also put the sign (+, -, or =) that solves the problems on the worksheet.
BOXES PRACTICE WORKSHEET
The practice worksheet asks students to use addition to determine what numbers should go in the empty spaces of each box. Each box has columns and rows, and each column and row adds up to a specific number. Students will find the missing addend or product for each.
They will also create a box like this for a friend to complete!
FIND THE MISSING NUMBER HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
For the homework assignment, students will find the unknown variable in each addition or subtraction equation. They will also write two addition equations and two subtraction equations using 3 + ? = 8.
Worksheet Answer Keys
This lesson plan includes answer keys for the practice worksheet and the homework assignment. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
