Take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. Give five seconds of quiet think-time before any hands go up. You are only fishing for descriptions of the shape the shading makes (a stepping diagonal) — do not confirm or correct facts yet; the noticing is the hook.

Walk the grids one at a time; don't move on while they're still reading.

Fours: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40. Just plant the shape — you'll call it back when the eights come up next step.

Sevens: 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, 56, 63, 70. Trace the three-squares-left step with your finger; show the wrap back to the right edge at 21. Ask a pupil to predict where 77 would sit if the grid ran on.

Nines: 9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72, 81, 90. Load-bearing beat. Trace down-one-row, left-one-square; say "down adds ten, left takes one, so the digits still make nine" (1 and 8, 2 and 7, 3 and 6). Hands-up prediction: does the add-to-nine rule hold to 90? Resolve on screen — yes, right to 90. Then point at 99: 9 + 9 = 18, and 1 + 8 = 9, so keep adding until the digits make nine.

Fives: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50. Count the last digits aloud — 5, 0, 5, 0 — so they hear why the two columns (the 5 and the 10 column) appear. Head off the size idea: it's about which column, not how big.

This round is for talking it through together — pupils take turns at the board and the class predicts by hands-up.

• Call one pupil up per table. The watching class predicts the next cell by hands up before it is tapped, and the class agrees or corrects out loud.
• Shade the fours first, then clear and shade the eights on a fresh grid. Put the two side by side in the pupils' minds: the eights land on every second four. Revoice a strong answer: "so the eights are the fours skipped in twos".
• The elevens is the key one of the lesson: let the class watch the doubled-digit diagonal (11, 22, 33…) appear in silence for a beat before anyone names it.
• Pacing lever if the back rows drift: between tables, ask one quick turn-and-name ("tell the person you'd sit near what shape the eights made") or revoice a pupil's prediction before the next pupil comes up.

These are the practice questions — 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.

Start with 3, 4 and 5 as the easy to start entry — everyone can predict two clean columns for the fives. The 7 is the first real stretch (stepping diagonal, no obvious column). For 12, prompt pupils to notice it is the sixes on every second cell. If a pupil misses a multiple, use the Check feedback to send them to the exact cell rather than re-listing the whole table.

If the clock runs short: the essential tables are 5 and 7 (the two the lesson leaned on). The 8 and 12 tables can be dropped and picked up next lesson without breaking the sequence.