Identify and explain when objects cannot be grouped equally | Maths

Starter quiz

Look at the counters. How many counters are there in each group? ______ counters

'3' ✓
Look at the bar model. How many groups of 2 does it represent? ______ groups

'4' ✓
Look at the equation. Match each number with what it tells us.

15

⇔

whole ✓

3

⇔

number of groups ✓

5

⇔

size of each group ✓
12 is equal to ___

6 × 2 ✓

12 × 1 ✓

1 × 6

2 x 5
10 is equal to ______ groups of 5

'2' ✓
14 is equal to ______ groups of 7

'2' ✓

Exit quiz

4 children get into pairs. Are the groups equal or unequal?

equal ✓

unequal
6 children get into groups with 3 children in each group. Are the groups equal or unequal?

equal ✓

unequal
There are 8 children. Which equal-sized groups could they get into without any children being left out?

groups of 2 ✓

groups of 3

groups of 4 ✓

groups of 5
There are 7 children. They get into pairs. How many children are not in a pair? ______

'1' ✓
There are 9 children. They get into groups with 4 children in each group. How many children are not in a group of 4? ______

'1' ✓
There are ______ children. They get into 2 groups with 5 children in each group. 1 child is not in one of these groups. How many children are there altogether?

'11' ✓

Worksheet

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Lesson Details

Key learning points

Sometimes a number can be made into groups of equal size and sometimes the groups are unequal sizes.
There are ___ groups of ___ and ___ are not in a group of ___
When the number of objects is not a multiple of the group size, you cannot make equal groups.

Common misconception

Pupils may struggle to understand why equal groups can / cannot be made.

This is a challenging concept for Y2 children without visual representations. Take time to explore how even numbers can be grouped in equal groups of 2, whereas odd numbers cannot be and how multiples of 5 can be grouped into equal groups of five.

Keywords

Group - A group is a collection of objects or images.
Unequal - Unequal means not to have exactly the same amount or value.