Here's a sharing puzzle for us. Imagine we have 13 counters and four friends want to share them out fairly, one each, round and round the table.

Look at the counters shared into the groups. Notice how many each group gets and how many are left over. That leftover is the remainder.

We work three shares together on the board. A pupil comes up and deals the counters round the groups one at a time, and stops when there are too few left to go round again.

1. 19 shared into 4 groups.
2. 15 shared into 3 groups.
3. 21 shared into 5 groups.

Each time we read the answer aloud together as so many each, remainder so many, then check the leftover is smaller than the number of groups before moving on.

Key point Before the last one is dealt, everybody predicts how many each group will get and how many will be left over. Say it before the counters move.

The last one is the trickiest — six groups and a big pile — so watch how big the remainder can get.