Take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. Give five seconds of quiet think-time first. You are fishing for the idea that multiplying by 4 grows the value but each apple is well under a euro, so the total stays small. Do not resolve it yet — the reveal belongs in the next step.

Same move every time: multiply the whole-number core, then count the decimal places back in.

0.6 × 4: core 6 × 4 = 24, one figure after the point so one place back, gives 2.4. Tie to tenths: six tenths four times is twenty-four tenths, i.e. 2.4. Read as two euro forty, less than €4.

1.25 × 3: estimate first, about 1 × 3 = 3. Core 125 × 3 = 375. Pause on how many places back before revealing 3.75; let the class call it and check it sits near 3.

Before the next one, ask the whole class how many figures come after the point in 0.045, take two hands-up.

0.045 × 6: the trap. Core 45 × 6 = 270, three places back. Walk it through the columns: 270 to 27.0 to 2.70 to 0.270, tidy to 0.27. Point at the front 0 as it appears; it holds the units place because we ran out of digits.

3.4 × 12: core 34 × 12 = 408, one place back, gives 40.8. Ask why this answer is much bigger than the others (whole-number part greater than one).

This round is for talking it through together — pupils take turns at the board and the class agrees or corrects out loud.

The grid opens on the first core, 6 × 4. Re-set the two factors on the grid for each of the three named cores in order. Each time, get the whole-number product first, then ask the class to predict the place-count before anyone touches the point.

• 0.6 × 4 = 2.4 — one place back from 24.
• 0.8 × 7 = 5.6 — one place back from 56.
• 0.25 × 4 = 1.00 = 1 — the key one. Two places back from 100 gives 1.00, which tidies to exactly 1. Let the class notice that four quarters make a whole euro, so the answer landing on a whole number is right, not a mistake.

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.

• 0.35 × 8 = 2.8 — estimate first: about 0.5 × 8 = 4, so an answer near 3 is sensible.
• 2.04 × 7 = 14.28 — the zero in 2.04 catches people out; the core 204 × 7 keeps it in place.
• 1.6 × 9 = 14.4 — only one place back; estimate near 2 × 9 = 18 to confirm the point.
• 1.25 × 6 = 7.5 — the stretch: two places back from 750 tidies to 7.5.