Take two or three hands-up answers to the counting question, then hold out for the wondering: does sharing them back give us anything we started with? Treat the second question as a prediction, not a sum they should already know. Don't confirm the link yet — that is what the lesson draws out.

First: 12 dealt into 3 groups, 4 in each. Point to the counters, read them as 3 rows of 4: 3 × 4 = 12, and 12 ÷ 3 = 4 — same three numbers, share undoes the times fact.

Second: the same 12, now into 4 groups, 3 in each. Draw out that 12 splits two ways — 12 ÷ 4 = 3 and 4 × 3 = 12.

Third: 20 into 5 groups, 4 in each — get the class to say it: 20 ÷ 5 = 4 and 5 × 4 = 20.

Only after the third: the total, the number of groups and the size of each group make one family that works forwards and backwards.

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

For each set, an individual pupil sets the total and the number of groups so the counters deal into equal groups; the rest of the class builds the same array at their desks. After each deal, have the class say all four facts in the family. Listen for the swap: 2 × 5 and 5 × 2 both make 10. Revoice a strong answer: so dividing gave back the number of counters in each row. Reset the tool between sets rather than leaving it on 10-into-2.

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.

For each target, a pupil deals the counters into equal groups and presses Check, then the class calls out the two times facts and the two share facts. The 18 ÷ 6 one is the one to slow down on: it uses the least-familiar table fact of the set and it is the largest total, so pupils are most likely to slip here. Callout: which multiplication fact checks this share?