Take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. The on-screen shapes (or the lesson photo) are the canonical opener; showing a real cereal box, tin and triangular packet beside the flat shapes is an optional upgrade if you happen to have them to hand.

Listen for the natural sorting ideas pupils offer (number of sides, flat vs solid, round vs straight) — you will return to these in the wrap.

Triangle: three sides, three vertices. Introduce vertex/vertices and fold-line as each reveals.

Square: four equal sides, four vertices, two pairs of parallel sides, four fold-lines. Pause on the parallel pairs; parallel means they run alongside and never meet, like train rails.

Hexagon vs trapezium: regular-vs-irregular contrast. Regular hexagon, all sides equal. Ask the class to predict the trapezium's fold-lines before revealing (just one, sometimes none).

Before solids: take two hands-up to 'name one thing that tells two four-sided shapes apart', revoice a pupil (parallel sides, or lines of symmetry). This break re-engages the back rows.

Cube: six faces, twelve edges, eight vertices. Face is a flat side you could lay on a table; edge is where two faces meet.

Triangular prism: five faces, nine edges, six vertices.

Cylinder: head off the 'no faces' idea. By primary convention three surfaces (curved surface plus two flat circles), two edges, no vertices. Point to the curved surface as you name it; tapping each part makes it easier to spot.

This round is for talking it through together — the whole class predicts, you bring pupils up in turn, and the class agrees or corrects out loud.

Start with a rhombus on the board, have the class predict sides, vertices and lines of symmetry, then bring a pupil up to point and confirm. Rotate four or five pupils through.

Switch to a cuboid for the second half. As a pupil turns a real box or polydron cuboid and counts faces, edges and vertices, the rest of the class verifies the same count on their own solid if their group has one. Watch for pupils who lose track while rotating — encourage a system (count the top, then the bottom, then the sides).

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.

The first two rounds are the access tasks — everyone can sort flat shapes by sides, then solids by faces (the triangular prism and square pyramid each have five faces; the cube and cuboid each have six). Keeping sides and faces in separate rounds means nobody has to bucket two different counts under one rule.

The lines-of-symmetry round is harder: the scalene triangle has none, the rectangle has two (not four — a common error), the square has four.

For the stretch, expect more than one answer: the cube (12 edges, 6 faces) AND the cuboid (12 edges, 6 faces) both qualify, while the triangular prism (9 edges, 5 faces) and square pyramid (8 edges, 5 faces) do not. Let pupils reason each one out and check; revoice the correct reasoning and confirm that two shapes can both be right.

Keep this brief. Pupils now move to their Activity Book page for paper practice while you circulate.