Board the weak vs strong pair first and talk it through as the worked example: favourite-thing-about-the-journey (endless answers) beside How did you travel (walked, car, bus, cycled). Point out we chose the travel wording on purpose so the answer set stays small.

Then write the two lesson questions. Take two or three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. Steer the class to notice travel has a tidy set while favourite-county could give almost as many answers as pupils.

Slip to watch: pupils may still offer wide questions (favourite animal, favourite colour). Nudge them back to few fixed answers before moving on.

This is a static display snapshot — point at each row and count aloud rather than tapping. Walk each row slowly:

• Apple — four single strokes, then show what the fifth stroke does (the gate).
• Banana — one full gate plus two: count five, six, seven.
• Orange — fewer marks; let the class read it off.

Emphasise the fifth stroke goes across as the make-or-break move so the count stays in fives.

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

Go round the room so every pupil states one subject; with the whole class spread across four rows, the popular rows will pass five several times, so each rotating pupil is likely to draw a fifth stroke. Watch for the fifth-stroke slip: many pupils draw five separate strokes instead of crossing four. Pause at every fifth mark and ask does this stroke go across? Rotate four pupils through adding marks so several get a turn at the gate.

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.

All four questions are parallel whole-class yes-questions, and each adds exactly one row of yeses to the chart. With the whole class answering, the yes-counts will often pass five, so the gate-marks matter most — keep stopping to count rows in fives so pupils feel why fives are faster than ones. Rotate a different pupil to record each round.

Recap the gate-mark as the day's big idea. Flag forward to frequency tables without going into detail.