Give five seconds of quiet think-time before hands go up. Take two or three hands-up answers, not open call-outs.

Listen for a pupil who reaches for a letter (b, or any letter) for the starting number rather than jumping straight to the answer 7 — steer toward b + 4 = 11 as the shape we want, but do not resolve it yet; that is the next step's job.

• Niamh's books — draw out that "more" is the add signal; the letter marks where the missing number lives.
• Aoife's voucher — "left" is a subtract signal; watch for pupils who want to add.
• Tara's ribbon — "4 equal pieces" is the multiply signal; ask what output the machine lands on before revealing.
• Ben's stickers — "shared equally into groups" is the divide signal. Ask the class what input feeds in to leave 4 in each group before revealing.

Talk this one through together — pupils take turns at the board and the class agrees or corrects out loud.

The machine below is set to subtract 3, so it matches Conor's story only; feed that one through it. For the savings and shelf stories the machine's rule would need to change, so keep those two on the board: ask for the signal word (a week for w weeks → multiply; holds 6, how many shelves → divide), name the letter, then write and solve the equation without the machine. Revoice a strong answer: so the story said 'left', and that told us to take away.

This is the practice round — pupils take turns at the board, check each answer, and the class confirms before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

The word-problem interactive grades the operation as well as the answer, so use the ✓ as part of the narration: yes — it wanted 'altogether', so add, and 21 is right. The last problem, Football teams, is a division dressed up in a sharing story; hold the class on the signal words (splits into, teams of) before anyone types. If the board is down, hand out the printable worksheet and run the same stories on paper.