Take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. Listen for anyone who says "six lots of four" or "count a row, then times by the rows" — that is the seed of the length × width rule, so hold it up as a good idea to come back to.

• 6 × 4 = 24 cm² — tie this straight back to the hook grid; the count and the multiply give the same answer.
• 5 × 5 = 25 cm² — a square is a rectangle too; ask what is special about its sides.
• 8 × 3 = 24 cm² — same area as the first, different shape. Pause here: "how can two different rectangles cover the same space?"
• 12 × 7 = 84 cm² — this is the one that would take ages to count square by square. Ask the class why multiplying is the sensible move now, and let them get there.

Talk this one through together — one pupil works each rectangle at the board while the class agrees or corrects out loud. Aim for three different pupils across the three rectangles.

Set each rectangle by dragging the corners; before the area reveals, ask the class to call out length × width. On the 4 × 4, hold it against the 8 × 3 from Watch and Notice — same idea, very different area, so multiplying the actual sides matters. On the 9 × 6, hold out for the multiplication answer (54) before reading the screen — that is the whole point, that multiplying beats counting. Revoice a strong answer: "so six rows of nine squares, and nine sixes is fifty-four."

This is the practice round — pupils work the four rectangles on their own squared sheet at their desk, using a ruler where they need it.

The sheet is the area_rectangles printable. Circulate and catch two slips: counting the grid lines instead of the squares (one fewer square than lines), and writing cm not cm². For the 36 cm² stretch, the closer to a square (6 × 6), the shorter the distance round the same floor space — let strong finishers discover that and revoice it. Confirm the four areas aloud at the end: 15, 28, 36, 84 cm².