Give five seconds of quiet think-time, then take two or three hands-up answers. Do not confirm yet — hold the value of n until Watch and Notice, where the balance makes it visible.

n + 3 = 7: confirm the opener — the letter just held the place of 4.

x − 5 = 12: the take-away catches people. Put the 5 taken off back beside the 12, so the x pan balances 12 and 5; ask what that comes to — x = 17.

y + y = 8: two of the same letter balance 8, so one is half — y = 4. Both blocks hold the same value; note y + y can be written 2y.

2k + 1 = 11: build in two beams. First beam is the equation as it stands. Second beam takes the 1 off both sides, leaving two k blocks balancing 10; halve, so k = 5.

Pause after each balance to confirm the value with the class before moving on. This reasoning returns in the practice round and the covered-card clues.

Talk this one through together — pupils take turns at the board and the class agrees or corrects out loud.

For each equation, ask the class to predict the value before a pupil slides the letter. For x − 4 = 9, remind the class of the take-away trick: the x pan balances 9 and 4 together, which comes to 13. On the story equation, agree together that 's' is the number of sweets Aoife started with, so it must be 7. Revoice: the letter is just holding the place of a number we haven't found yet.

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 in difficulty: single-step adds, then a take-away, then a doubling, then the two-step 2k + 1 = 11. On the last one, point back to the two beams we built in Watch and Notice: take the 1 off both sides first, then halve.