Display the 0-to-1 line split into ten equal steps as pupils settle. Give five seconds of quiet think-time before any hands go up, then take two or three answers.

You are listening for 0.1 (one tenth). If a pupil says "one" or "a tenth", revoice it as "one tenth, and we write that as 0.1". You already know one tenth is 0.1, so lean on that to bring tenths onto today's number line.

0.1 — point to the marker, count one step from 0: one tenth, 0.1.

0.5 — count the visible steps with the class: one to five. Five tenths lands exactly halfway; link to one half from earlier fraction work. This is the key one.

0.8 — count on to eight tenths, 0.8. Stress it is two short of 1, not eight short, to head off miscounting from the wrong end.

1.3 — line now runs 0 to 2, marker past 1. The new move: go to the whole number 1 and make that the new start rather than counting all the way from 0.

Counting on from 1. Point right at 1, count three tenth-steps to reach 1.3. Draw out that the whole is already counted, so only the three tenths remain.

Count the steps aloud with the class every time so counting-on becomes the habit.

This round is for talking it through together. One pupil comes up to drag the marker; the rest of the class counts the tenth-steps aloud with you and agrees or corrects.

For each value, call one pupil up to drag the marker. Before they release it, ask the whole class to count and predict the step number. Work the values in this order so the round builds: 0.2 (two steps), 0.7 (seven steps, near 1), 0.4 (four steps), then 1.5 on the 0-to-2 line where counting must start from the whole number 1.

To keep the watching class with the round between turns, revoice the last pupil's count aloud ("so Aoife counted seven steps for 0.7"), and for 1.5 do a quick turn-and-name: ask the class to name the whole number they start counting from before the pupil drags. Watch for pupils counting from the wrong end for 0.7 — remind them to start every count at the whole number on the left.

These are the practice questions — one pupil at a time comes to the board, moves the marker and presses Check, while the class predicts and counts the steps aloud together. The class confirms before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

The order builds: 0.3 and 0.6 stay under 1, 0.9 sits just short of the whole number, and 1.2 is the key one where the count must restart from 1. Have the class count the step number for each before the pupil presses Check.