Take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. Give a few seconds of quiet think-time first.

Listen for pupils saying 'a tenth' or 'one out of ten' — revoice either as one tenth. The second question is the seed for the whole lesson: putting the ten slices back makes one whole again.

Ten tenths: point along the strip as the class counts aloud, one tenth to ten tenths. Ten tenths make one whole, like ten units make one ten. No overhang, no gaps.

Two halves: same whole, now two parts. Ask which are bigger, halves or tenths, and why.

Draw out that more parts means smaller parts. Don't rush this. It heads off the belief that ten always means bigger.

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

Call a tenths fraction (e.g. shade four tenths); a pupil comes up and shades; the class names it as 4/10. Then ask the watching rows: how many more tenths would reach one whole? Take two hands-up answers and revoice the reasoning. Rotate four pupils across the slot so each round has a fresh shading plus the class question.

Keep returning to the lined-up whole strip above so pupils can see how far each shaded amount is from a full whole.

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 half-shading round (5/10) is the reference point for the last challenge. The final challenge is the open-ended one: more than half but less than seven tenths means six tenths is the only fit on this strip. Let the class reason out why five tenths is half and seven tenths is too many before checking.

Keep this brief. The link to decimals (each tenth becomes the first place after the decimal point) is the hook into the next lesson.