Lesson start ideas	Give a creative idea how to begin a lesson
Which subject	Mathematics
What age group	Year or Grade 5
What topic	Brackets
Quantity	1
Any other preferences

Introduction

Welcome, young mathematicians! Today we are going to break the barrier of brackets and delve deeper into understanding this essential mathematical concept.

Engage

Let's begin this lesson with an exciting and interactive activity to warm up our brains. I am going to give you a list of numbers, and you have to tell me what operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division) should be performed between the numbers to get the final result. Are you ready? Here we go:

(8) + (4) = ?

(10) - (3) = ?

(2) x (6) = ?

(18) / (2) = ?

Explore

Now that we got our brains warmed up, let's dive into the topic of brackets. In Mathematics, brackets are used to show that multiple numbers need to be treated as a single number.

For example:

(4 + 5) x 2 = 18

In this equation, we first added 4 + 5 inside the brackets and then multiplied that sum by 2.

Let us explore some more examples and solve them together.

(3 + 4) x 5 = ?

(6 - 2) x 3 = ?

(9 / 3) x 4 = ?

Explanation

You may wonder why we use brackets in mathematics. The use of brackets helps us to avoid any confusion by clearly presenting which numbers should be grouped and operated on together.

For example:

5 + 3 x 2 = ?

Here, if we add 5 + 3 first, our answer would be 8 x 2 = 16. But if we multiply 3 x 2 first, we get 5 + 6 = 11.

By using brackets, we can create a cohesive expression that will prevent ambiguity.

((5 + 3) x 2) = 16

Evaluate

Now, let us test our newly acquired knowledge with some practice problems.

1. (6 + 3) x 2 = ?
2. (9 - 2) x 4 = ?
3. (12 / 4) x 6 = ?

Conclusion

Bravo, young mathematicians! You have successfully broken the barrier of brackets. Remember that brackets are essential in mathematics to avoid confusion and clarify expressions. I hope you enjoyed this lesson and continue to practice this concept in your future mathematical endeavors.