Our Amazing Algebra Adventures!

This term in Year 6, we’ve been diving into the exciting world of algebra—and guess what? It’s not as mysterious as it first sounds! Algebra is all about using letters and symbols to represent numbers, and it helps us solve problems in clever new ways.

Forming Expressions

We started by learning how to build algebraic expressions. An expression is like a mini‑maths sentence.
For example:

• Instead of writing “3 × a number,” we can write 3n.
• Instead of saying “a number plus 5,” we write n + 5.

We found out that letters like n, x, or b can stand for any number—and that’s what makes algebra so powerful!

Substituting Values

Next, we practised substitution, which is just a fancy way of saying “swap the letter for a number.”
For example, if n = 4, then:

• 3n = 3 × 4 = 12
• n + 5 = 4 + 5 = 9

We enjoyed trying different values to see how the expression changed.

Finding the Value of Letters and Symbols

Finally, we learned how to work out the value of a letter when we’re given a formula or equation.
For example:

• If n + 7 = 15, we can work out what n must be.
  We simply think: “What number plus 7 makes 15?”
  The answer is n = 8!

• If 5m = 20, then m must be 4, because 5 × 4 = 20.

We’ve discovered that solving equations feels a lot like solving puzzles—and we’re becoming fantastic algebra detectives!