Mathematics

Beginner

40 mins

Teacher/Student led

Learning Goals

Learning Outcomes

Lesson Files

+80 XP

What you need:
IWB/Projector/Large Screen

Placing and Estimating Numbers on a Number Line

Develop the skill of estimating where numbers sit on a number line by using key landmarks like the midpoint and nearest thousand. Apply this reasoning to place numbers accurately on lines scaled in hundreds and thousands.

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1 Getting Started
2 Watch and Notice
3 Sketch the Line in Your Copy
4 Try It Together
5 Class Challenge
6 What Did We Notice?
7 What's Next
Pupil practice

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

Illustration for Getting Started Here is a number line for a sponsored walk. The start is 0 metres and the far end is 1,000 metres. Only three marks are on it: 0 at the start, 500 in the middle, and 1,000 at the finish.

Your task

Roughly where would 750 metres go, past the middle towards the finish?

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

Three number lines appear one at a time, each with a marker resting on it. Look at where each marker sits and think about which mark you already know that helps you judge its place. A landmark is a mark we know, like the middle, that we use to place other numbers.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Sketch the Line in Your Copy ~3 mins

COPYBOOK MOMENT

Illustration for Sketch the Line in Your Copy In your maths copy, draw a number line from 0 to 1,000 and mark it in hundreds: 0, 100, 200, all the way to 1,000.

Then mark these three numbers in roughly the right place on your line:

For each one, whisper to yourself which landmark helped you decide where it goes.

+10 XP

4 - Try It Together ~7 mins

Key point

Today we place four numbers together on the same line, which runs from 0 to 1,000. Each time, we say which landmark we used before we drop the marker. We start with 300, then 750, then 480, and finally 920. Each one leans on a landmark, so predict where the marker will land before we check it.

Place the number together

+15 XP

5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Key point

Now we work through four placements together, all on one line that runs from 0 to 6,000, marked every thousand: 1,500, then 3,000, then 4,400, and finally 2,950. The last one is sneaky, so we say which landmark settled it before we check.

Estimate and place

+15 XP

Pupil practice

Module 1 · Place Value: Whole Numbers to 9,999 and Rounding Number

Lesson 7 · Placing and Estimating Numbers on a Number Line

Download Activity Book page (PDF)

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