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Demonstration lesson plan for a multigrade lesson on the subject staggering option
Multigrade teaching guide for Zambian teachers.


What is multigrade teaching ?
Classroom management
Multigrade material development
Tips for the multigrade teacher
Teaching in the multigrade classroom
Survey to assess the impact of a multigrade teaching workshop
Demonstration lesson plan for a multigrade lesson on the subject staggering option
More sample lesson preparations. Have a good time.
Lesson preparation book made by students.

Multigrade lesson plan for a demonstration lesson on the subject staggering option.









30 minutes








Looking and finding

Vertical multiplication


English TG part B, pp 40-44

Maths BK3 Trs book.


Word cards, BB, classroom objects.



-         Talk about the position of things in a dialogue form.

-         Read the new words correctly.

-         Form letter w.

Multiply 2 or 3 figure numbers by numbers from 2 to 10.


Ask the children to do some concrete demonstrations related to prepositions.

Get on the desk, under the desk

Pupils to receive the different prepositions e.g. on, near, between

Tell the children to write down the tables of multiplication to ten.

Remark: slow learners will arrive at the table of five while the fast learners will arrive at the table of ten.

Ask pupils on different multiplication sentences.

E.g. what is 2 x 9

                    3 x 5


The children will look orally for some sentences with prepositions. The teacher can give the children some objects and they have to do the movements and then make the sentences.

Singing the song morning stars.

All the children will come in front of the class (individual) and present a part of the table of multiplication they wrote down.


The children will read the sentences they found, the teacher will write them on the BB.

The teacher will introduce the text with some preposition in it (chart).

Children will read the text sentence-by-sentence, individual.

The teacher will give the children some individual exercises.

5 to 10 exercises, slow learners 3-5 and fast learners 7-10.



The children will do a lot of individual reading exercises, that they will present for the whole class.

The teacher will go around and try to identify the problems. A child with problems will come to the BB and solve the problem, classically.

Game for both grades.

The teacher will say the children that they need to make a shopping list for the next lessons on the market place. One student says the first item for example bananas. The second pupil ad a shopping item and repeat first bananas and then his item, and so on. You can do the game several times.



Lesson preparation in Multigrade Teaching


Grade = 3,4,5

Subjects = English/Maths


The story


The story of the mouse with the (7 tails)


A nice little mouse was very unhappy because it had no friends to play with.
Every day other children were laughing with the mouse, do you know why?

Because the mouse had seven tails.

Who can draw me a mouse with seven tails?

The unhappy little mouse complained to her mother, and asked her what to do?(all children look unhappy)

Mammy told the mouse that she must laugh back when the other pupils are making fun of her.

The mouse went to school with a big smile (all children a big smile), but all the children start laughing again and shout, hahahaha a mouse with seven tails.

The mouse came back home and was crying

The mother must think about another solution.

That same day the mother cut three tails (a pupil erases the tails from the BB).

But still the children kept on laughing.

Now the mother cut all the tails.

The day after when the mouse came at school she started immediately playing with the other children. But the children couldnt laugh anymore because the tails were gone.

So from that day all the children played with the mouse.

Since then the mouse comes home with a big smile.







Teacher activities

Children activities


games individual work



The story


Grade 3,4,5

The teacher tells the story of the little mouse with the seven tails.


The children sit in front of the class on the ground.

They will be active during the story

They will be crying, looking happy, and looking sad.

One of the children will come and draw a mouse with seven tails on the BB.



Situation 1

Grade 3


Key-word list

Mouse, happy, school, to laugh, tail, smile, to walk, and more words found by the children.




Grade 4


Grade 5




Situation 2

Grade 3







Grade 4


1 x 7 = 7

2 x 7 = 14

3 x 7 = 21

4 x 7 = 28

5 x 7 = 35

6 x 7 = 42

7 x 7 = 49

8 x 7 = 56

 9 x 7 = 63

10 x 7 = 70


Grade 5


Situation 3


Grade 3







Grade 4






Grade 5 


Verbs/nouns/adjectives like to laugh, to walk, to cry, sad, bad, and happy.





Situation 4


Grade 3


Grade 4



Grade 5








Situation 5

Grade 3


Grade 4



Grade 5




Situation 5


Grade 4/5/6



How many tails the mouse have? How many were cut the first time, how many the second times?

Can you tell me the story again? Can you play the story?

The key words are written down on the BB.















Teaching the table of multiplication.


How many tails the mouse has?

Seven children stand in a circle.

Teacher will teach, by the same method till 3 x 7.





















The teacher will write down five sentences.

We will analyse the sentences and put the words in verbs, nouns and adjectives columns.





The dictation of ten words.















Reading and learning the table of seven by games.



All the children will be saying one sentence of the story.

The children will play the story.



The children read a lot of times all the words.















The children read the tables of multiplication.


Children answer individually.

A child will draw a set with seven elements.

Another child will write

1 x 7 = 7

And so on till 3 x 7























All the pupils will read their story or a part of the story.







The children write down the words individually.























All the children sing the table of multiplication, but grade of 3 can keep on drawing.

Table of multiplication games:


  1. One child in front of the class and will say a table, the other students will answer.
  2. Two children in line, every time they give a good answer they make a step forward. The one who will be the first in front or back of the class wins.
  3. One child claps the table in her hands the others have to answer.
  4. Two children will stand in front of the class reciting the table. If they make a mistake the other pupils can put their finger in the air.
  5. All the children stand up and the teacher is asking the table. When a pupil gives a good answer he or she can sit down.
  6. All the children sit down. The teacher is asking the table. When a child gives a good answer he or she can stand up.
  1. Concrete children in a circle.
  2. Semi concrete is the story.
  3. Semi abstract sets on the BB.

Abstract 3 x 7.











Write the tables of multiplication of 2, 3,4,5,6.

Write down the story in 5 to 10 sentences.



Write all the new words in your book.

After writing you will dictate the words to your friend. Correct the words and then start over.















The pupils finish their writing exercises.




Write all the new words in your book.



Complete the table of seven.

Write also the table of six and learn by heart the both tables.













Complete the table of multiplication and learn by heart.

Complete the list of 20 words in each column.

Learn the words.






Make a drawing of the story.



Complete the list, correct with your friends and prepare your dictation.






























Information for the TGM



1. To give more sense to your teacher meetings and to your lessons in the classroom I propose you to prepare your lessons as a team. What do I mean by this? Per exemple you can try to find first, five lessonsubjects per skill. Once find them you prepare a lesson for all the grades or for one grade. The teachers of grade 1 give the lessons and the other teachers observe. After each lesson you discuss the

Content / development/comprehension by the pupils of these lessons.

At the  end you will have a whole preparationbook, which can serve, in all the schools of the district.

I have choosen your school because I think your team is a good team, well connected and very ambitious.

2. I choosed per home zone and per non-home zone one school to set up the project of the preparation book.

3. To defend strongly your demands for a better salary, I think the best way is to show in your work in the classroom and in the TGM.By a great devotion during the lessons and the teacher meetings, the Ministry of education will see that you are motivated and the recognition will follow.

It will take a long time but the reward will be fact afterwords.


4.exemple: - The skill using the local environment:


Questions we can ask before making a preparation:


1.        How is the environment developping?

2.        How is this development influencing our school?

3.        Which importance will we give to our school and his environment?

4.        Which demands make this on our school, on our teachers?

5.        What is the starting point for such a lesson?


On the basic of this data you prepare a lesson.




You visit the school with your class and you look at the condition of:

-          toilets and water supply

-          disposal of rubbish

-          the classrooms

-          play area

-          notice board

-          connection with the community

-          School environment.

Make up a list with the numbers of classrooms, toilets, broken windows, damaged doors or windows.

-          A mathematic lesson; doors, good doors, good windozs


You make up a lesson with addition and multiplication, divison and substraction.


On the blackboard you draw the school, the classrooms, the toilets, the doors, the windows and the children count with you, you notice the exercices.

A. The next situation will be outlined; red ore told by the teacher, if possible supported by concrete material or a schematic representation, red by the pupils.

There are 24 windows broken in the school, 35 are not broken.

Yesterday 27 windows were repaired how many windows are not broken today.

How many windows must be repaired before they are all in a good condition?


B. Your aunt is living in northern province and she liked to know how your school looks like. She also wants to know how big your school is?

To start you provide her the front view of the school.

Note also the dimensions. Work precise!


Solution A:

The children themselves decide how they are going to solve the problem.

Directly on a mental level or first by a schematic our material level.

They can also choose a mathematic operation.


Solution B:

The measureproblem can be solved in-group under supervision of the teacher.

The teacher discusses with the children the solvingproces and the steps to be undertake.

-          Together with the teacher the pupils map out the problem.

-          What is the given

                      What is asked?

                      The results

-          They split the problem in a number of subproblems.

-A global solution is adopt.


The pupils can now execute the solutionplan and execute the choosen solutionway.

A.      Materialise/scheme/calculate.

B.       Measure the length of the school.

Estimate the highth of the school.

Look for referencespoints; the hight of a tree standing befor the school,the height of an adult compared with the height of the school.

Reduce the mesures

Make drawns, put the dimensions.


The children can take decisions about the results.

A.      34+56..

B.       Per exemple; two groups compares their results.

Restart the measures with the teacher and al the children.

Compare the results of all the little groups.

Choose the most usable drawn.




An individual test.




1.        some objectives for the lesson:

 General objective; The pupils are able to understand a mathematic problem.

                                The pupils can make a solutionplan and can choose a solutionway.

                                The pupils can execute the solutionplan and the choosen silutionway.

                                The pupils can take decisions about the result.

2.        Specific objective; The pupils can imagine oneself in the situation by apply within,by reading,by considering,by listening