Take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. Steer toward the two ideas that decide a quadrilateral's name: are the sides equal, and are the corners square? Do not name the shapes yet — that is the next step.

• Square — reveal the four equal sides and the two parallel pairs; ask for the corners before you show them (four right angles).
• Rectangle — opposite sides equal, still four right angles. Ask: what is the same as the square, what is different? The class should land on: same four right angles, but the square has all four sides equal while the rectangle only has opposite sides equal.
• Rhombus — four equal sides like the square, but leaned over, so no right angles. This is the one that surprises them. Pause here — let the surprise settle and repeat the rhombus properties aloud before you move on, so it does not blur with the parallelogram.
• Trapezium — hold out for pupils to spot that only one pair of sides is parallel.
• Parallelogram — put the parallelogram up beside the rhombus on the board and reveal its parallel pairs, so the two lean-over shapes sit side by side. Opposite sides equal and parallel, slanted, no right angles. Ask: both are slanted, so how do we tell them apart? The rhombus has all four sides equal; the parallelogram only opposite pairs.

Keep the three questions the same every time so pupils learn the routine, not five separate facts.

This is pupils naming the shapes from the evidence, not the teacher revealing — that was the last step. Put an unnamed quadrilateral up, then have a pupil tap to reveal equal sides and parallel pairs. Hold out for the class to name the shape from the evidence rather than guessing on sight.

Pacing beats to fill the time with real work: after each reveal, take two hands-up names and revoice one pupil's reasoning per shape (“Aoife named it a rhombus because all four sides are equal but the corners are not square”). The rhombus is the one most likely to trip them — slanted, four equal sides, no right angles.

Pupils work at their desks in groups with straw models (four straws pinned at the corners); circulate and have groups hold up each stage. What stayed the same? The side lengths. What changed? The corners — the right angles opened out. This is the beat that lands the big idea: leaning a square over gives a rhombus (equal sides kept, right angles lost). When groups lean the rectangle over, the leaned rectangle is a parallelogram — bring the parallelogram back up on the board and name it as they reach that stage, so the shape they draw later matches something they have both seen and made. For the stretch, ask a group to build a trapezium and prove it has exactly one pair of parallel sides by sliding two straws to check they stay the same distance apart. If straws are short, cut paper strips or run it on the IWB shape-inspector.

Two or three closing sentences only. The class now moves to the activity book page for individual pencil-and-paper practice while you circulate.