Hold a real metre stick against a long strip or the edge of a desk so pupils see just how long 2.4 m is and how short a 0.6 m piece is before any numbers go up. Then take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs, after five seconds of quiet think-time. Some pupils will reach for a decimal division, others will count up in 0.6s along the metre stick — welcome both, and hold the check for the modelling step.

Work all four slowly; draw out the operation and the unit before revealing each answer.

Piece 1 (plank): 'each piece' plus 'how many' means divide. 2.4 ÷ 0.6 = 4. Hold out for the operation; counting up in 0.6s is a fine check.

Piece 2 (parcels): three the same means multiply. 1.25 × 3 = 3.75 kg. Watch pupils line up the decimal point in 3.75.

Piece 3 (¾ of 2 litres): give this the most time — they do it themselves next. ¾ means three out of four equal parts. Step 1: 2 ÷ 4 = 0.5 litres per quarter. Step 2: 0.5 × 3 = 1.5 litres.

Piece 4 (leftover as a fraction): subtract first to get 1.2 kg left. Then build the fraction visibly: 1.2 over 3, so 1.2 ÷ 3 = ⅖. Say any leftover can be written as a fraction of the whole it came from.

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

The juice problem is the two-step move we built on the board a moment ago: find one quarter of 2 litres (2 ÷ 4 = 0.5 l), then multiply by 3. Point back to that worked example if anyone stalls. The ribbon and paint problems both come out to clean answers. Revoice every answer with its unit so results that share a number stay distinct: the juice gives 1.5 litres poured out, the ribbon gives eight lengths, and the paint gives 1.5 litres per room — same number, different measure.

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.

The soup problem gives a decimal answer smaller than one (0.3 l) — flag that dividing can make the number shrink. On the final compost problem, once Check confirms 1.2 kg left, build the fraction step on the board just as in the demo: write 1.2 out of 3, then 1.2 ÷ 3 = ⅖. That fraction step is the ceiling of the task and is worked in maths-talk, not typed.