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The mean (average) – Year 6 maths lesson

Lesson 29 of 32 in the Year 6 maths course

UK version. UK school years, UK spelling and pounds (£). · US Math Department

A complete 45-minute lesson for Year 6 (ages 10–11) that runs on this page – at school or at home. Every answer is marked straight away, with a worked explanation.

Time
45 minutes + 20 min homework
Year
Year 6 (ages 10–11)
You need
Paper, a pencil and this page
Marked
Instantly, with explanations

For parents: how to use this lesson

You don't need to know this topic yourself. The lesson explains each step on screen, one tidy step at a time. Every answer is marked straight away with a worked explanation, so you never have to mark anything.

  1. Read what your child will learn and the big ideas together.
  2. Press Start the lesson below and sit with your child for the teaching and the worked examples (about 19 minutes).
  3. Let them do the practice on their own. They choose Getting started, On track or Challenge – start on On track and move up after a few right in a row.
  4. Finish with the exit ticket and the talk question: “Why can the mean be a number that is not in the data?”
  5. Later that day or the next day: the homework (20 minutes), then a practice test.

Watch out for

  • Dividing by the wrong number. Count the values carefully, including zeros.
  • Thinking the mean must be one of the values. The mean can be a number that is not in the list.

Tip for home: Find the mean of a week of scores, steps or minutes of reading.

What your child will learn

We are learning to calculate and interpret the mean as an average.

Success looks like

  • I can calculate the mean.
  • I can explain what the mean shows.
  • I can find a missing value from the mean.

Key words

mean
total divided by how many
average
a typical value
total
all the values added
data
the values collected

What to have ready

  • Paper and a pencil
  • This page on a computer, tablet or phone
  • For the hands-on part: Make towers of cubes of different heights, then even them out so all are the same height: that height is the mean.

The big ideas (for the adult)

The mean is one kind of average. Add all the values and divide by how many values there are.

The mean is the amount each would get if the total were shared out equally.

If you know the mean and how many values there are, multiply to find the total.

The lesson, step by step

45 minutes in 5 parts
PartTimeHow it is checked
Starter: quick recall5 minMarked by Classfern
Teaching input10 minNot assessed, self-checked
Worked examples and guided practice9 minNot assessed, marked by Classfern
Independent practice15 minMarked by Classfern
Plenary and exit ticket6 minMarked by Classfern, self-checked

Starter, "your turn", practice and exit ticket are marked by Classfern. Worked examples and teaching are not assessed. The hands-on task and the reflection are self-assessed. Explanations in talk are judged by the parent and not recorded.

The lesson

It runs here on the page. No sign-up and no names – progress is kept only in this browser.

Homework and practice at home

20 minutes: 10 practice questions, 3 multiple-choice questions and 2 to remember from earlier work, then a short reflection. New questions every time, all marked instantly.

More practice

All Year 6 maths lessons and tests · Maths Department

More Year 6 maths lessons

Curriculum

National Curriculum for England, Year 6: “calculate and interpret the mean as an average”

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Our lessons and questions are our own. They are not written or endorsed by any government department, testing agency or exam board.