Simplifying expressions – Year 7 maths lesson

Lesson 13 of 18 in the Year 7 maths course

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

A complete 45-minute lesson for Year 7 (ages 11–12) 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 7 (ages 11–12)
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.

Read what your child will learn and the big ideas together.
Press Start the lesson below and sit with your child for the teaching and the worked examples (about 19 minutes).
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.
Finish with the exit ticket and the talk question: “Why can 3x + 2x be simplified but 3x + 2y cannot?”
Later that day or the next day: the homework (20 minutes), then a practice test.

Watch out for

Combining unlike terms (3x + 2y = 5xy). Only like terms can be added: apples and bananas stay separate.
Losing the minus sign of a term. Circle each term with the sign in front of it.

Tip for home: Make up expressions for shopping: 3 apples + 2 bananas + 1 apple.

What your child will learn

We are learning to simplify expressions by collecting like terms and using index laws.

Success looks like

I can spot like terms.
I can collect like terms.
I can multiply and divide terms.

Key words

like terms: terms with the same letters and powers
coefficient: the number in front of a letter
simplify: write in the shortest form
index: a power

What to have ready

Paper and a pencil
This page on a computer, tablet or phone
For the hands-on part: Sort algebra cards into groups of like terms, then simplify each group.

The big ideas (for the adult)

Like terms have exactly the same letters and powers: 3x and 5x are like terms; 3x and 3x² are not.

Collect like terms by adding or subtracting their coefficients: 3x + 5y − x + 2y = 2x + 7y. The sign belongs to the term after it.

When multiplying terms, multiply the numbers and add the powers of the same letter: 2a³ × 4a² = 8a⁵.

The lesson, step by step

45 minutes in 5 parts
Part	Time	How it is checked
Starter: quick recall	5 min	Marked by Classfern
Teaching input	10 min	Not assessed, self-checked
Worked examples and guided practice	9 min	Not assessed, marked by Classfern
Independent practice	15 min	Marked by Classfern
Plenary and exit ticket	6 min	Marked 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 7 maths lessons and tests · Maths Department

More Year 7 maths lessons

Curriculum

National Curriculum for England, Year 7: “collecting like terms”

National Curriculum for England, Year 7: “3y in place of y + y + y and 3 × y”

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.