Pose the apple question and show 256 + 137 in neat columns. Take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. Some pupils will say hundreds first because we read left to right; let that idea sit and promise the lesson will show why the right-hand column goes first. Give five seconds of quiet think-time before any hands go up.

243 + 125: gentle start, no carries. Establish right-to-left order. Units 3+5=8, tens 4+2=6, hundreds 2+1=3, total 368.

367 + 218: first carry. Units 7+8=15, keep 5, carry one ten. Ask 'fifteen units, where does the ten go?' and pause before revealing. Make-or-break idea. Then ask how many tens we are really adding once the one is carried.

484 + 256: the key one, two carries in a row. Units make ten, carry; tens then also carry. Deal with the units carry fully before moving to the tens. Point out each carry landing above the next column left.

305 + 197: apples sold Monday and Tuesday, same column method. The zero is the trap, pupils skip it. Say it aloud: zero tens plus nine tens is nine tens, then the carried ten makes ten tens. Watch what the units carry does when it meets the zero.

Take turns at the board; class agrees or corrects aloud. Step through the panels in order.

152 + 123: no carry, a confidence builder. Ask whether any column makes ten or more before they work it.

246 + 137: one carry from the units, lands above the tens. Ask where the carried ten will go.

378 + 254: carry from the units, then again from the tens. Pause here as two carries land in a row.

467 + 285: carries stack up to the hundreds. Watch nobody loses a carried digit.

Revoice a strong answer: so the ten from the units is waiting in the tens column before we add it.

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.

Run the column-addition tool in challenge mode. For each sum, a pupil predicts the number of carries, works it, then presses Check for the ✓. Use the tick as part of the narration: 'yes — that's it'. The last sum, 408 + 195, has a zero in the tens column just like 305 + 197 earlier — listen for pupils who skip that column. Watch for the common slip of forgetting to add the carried digit into the next column.