Here is a shopping question. A shop sells apples at €0.60 each, and you buy 4 of them. Before we work anything out: hands up, do you think you will pay more than €4 or less than €4? Give me a reason for your guess.

Each display shows the whole-number core as an area model. Watch where the decimal point lands once we put it back in, and count the figures after the point each time.

Today we work through these together, building the whole-number core on the area model and then counting the point back in: 6 × 4, then 8 × 7, then 25 × 4. For each one, before we place the point we say the decimal version aloud and predict how many places back we need: 0.6 × 4, then 0.8 × 7, then 0.25 × 4. Watch how the last one surprises us when the point lands.

Now we build our way to a target using decimal multiplication. Work through these in order, each a little trickier than the last: 0.35 × 8, then 2.04 × 7, and finally 1.6 × 9. Before each one we estimate roughly what it should be, so we know where the point belongs. If you finish early, there is a stretch: 1.25 × 6.