Take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. This is a predicting hook, so no chart is on screen yet; sketch a rough five-bar frame on the board only if the class needs something to point at while they guess. Do not read exact values — this beat is about the idea that a chart shows tallest and shortest by height alone. Save 'how many exactly' for the next step.

• Books borrowed — read the tallest bar first; run a finger from its top across to the scale. Ask the class to say the number before you confirm.
• Break-time games — read the shortest bar; check pupils are reading the top of the bar, not the middle.
• Pets at home — the Fish bar lands between the 12 and 14 marks. Model it out loud: start at the 12 line and count the small steps up to reach 13. Hold out for pupils to do the counting before you confirm.
• Fruit at lunch — this is the 'how many more' one. Ask which two bars we compare, read both, then subtract. Do not say the answer first.

Talk this one through together — pupils take turns at the board and the class agrees or corrects out loud.

Point pupils at the top of each bar and across to the scale — the commonest slip is reading the middle of the bar. Thursday reads 7: its top sits between the 6 and 8 marks, so start at 6 and count one small step up. Ask which two marks it sits between before anyone commits to a number. For the last part, read Wednesday (12) and Monday (4) and subtract to get 8 more.

This is the practice round. 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.

Use the scale lines, don't guess the height. On the second challenge, Team C reads 9: its top sits between the 8 and 10 marks, so start at 8 and count one small step up.

Before the last challenge, model the total using the chart just finished (challenge 3). Read every bar first: Team A 8, Team B 12, Team C 6, Team D 4. Write the four numbers in a column. Add down out loud: 8 + 12 = 20, 20 + 6 = 26, 26 + 4 = 30. Method once: read every bar, write the numbers, add them one by one. Then open the final challenge.

Watch for pupils who add only two bars, or who guess the total from overall height without reading each value. Ask the class to predict which bar is tallest before it is confirmed.