Give five seconds of quiet think-time before any hands go up, then take two or three hands-up answers. Don't confirm yet — hold out for how a pupil knows, not just the number 7. How did you get there? is the question that opens the lesson.

x + 5 = 12: 5 added to x, so take 5 off both pans, x = 7.

x - 3 = 8: 3 taken from x, so add 3 to both pans, x = 11.

3x = 15: this is the jump pupils miss. Before revealing, ask why can't we just take 3 off here? Let them see three x-blocks, not a plus-3. Share both pans by 3, x = 5.

2x = 14: two equal x-blocks again, share both pans by 2, x = 7.

First two are take-off / add-on; last two are share-both-pans equally.

Division on the board only (interactive cannot show ÷): x ÷ 3 = 5. What was done to x? ÷3. Opposite is ×3 on both sides: x ÷ 3 × 3 = 5 × 3, so x = 15. Check: 15 ÷ 3 = 5, both sides match.

Slip to watch: pupils take 3 off instead of multiplying by 3, the same habit as treating 3x like x + 3. Make them name what was done to x before choosing the opposite move.

Talk this one through together — pupils take turns at the board and the class agrees or corrects out loud. The interactive steps through all four equations for you, one at a time, so the live equation is always the only one on the beam.

The order is deliberate: two take-off/add-on equations, one share-equally equation, then x + 8 = 8 where x must be 0. Pupils resist zero as an answer ("there's nothing to add"), so let the beam show that x = 0 keeps it level. Before each slider move, ask the class to predict the value, then slide to confirm the beam goes flat.

This is the practice round — pupils take turns at the board, check each answer, and the class confirms before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

The practice set rises from single take-off/add-on to share-equally, then the final one gives 4.5 — a non-whole answer that shows the method still works. On that last one ask can a mystery number be a decimal? before revealing.