Give five seconds of quiet think-time before any hands go up, then take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs.

Steer the talk from sharing fairly toward the fraction language you will use all lesson: sharing 12 between 4 equal groups is the same as finding one quarter of 12. Say it out loud once — sharing fairly into four is finding a quarter — but don't formalise it yet; that lands in Watch and Notice.

One half of 8: bottom number 2 means 2 groups. Each group holds 4, so half of 8 is 4. Point to the two groups, read one group as the answer.

One quarter of 8: same 8 counters, now 4 groups. Pause on the prediction before counters settle, take one hands-up guess, more or fewer than 4. Each group holds 2, so quarter of 8 is 2. Draw out the key idea: same 8, more groups, smaller answer.

One third of 9: 3 groups, each holds 3, so third of 9 is 3.

Tie it together: the bottom number always tells us how many groups to make.

This round is for talking it through together — invite a different pupil to the board for each fraction so several pupils get a turn, and the class agrees or corrects out loud.

Call a fraction of a quantity, an individual pupil sets the dividend and the group count so the counters deal into equal groups, then reads how many are in one group. The class confirms or corrects by maths-talk. The explore interactive lets the pupil change the total on the board, so for the third example remind them to reset the total to 12 before dealing.

• One half of 6 — two groups, three each.
• One third of 6 — three groups, two each. Ask the class to compare with the half: same 6, more groups, smaller answer.
• One quarter of 12 — reset the total to 12, then four groups, three each.

Keep asking how did the bottom number decide the number of groups? so the rule stays front and centre.

These are the practice questions — invite a different pupil to the board for each challenge, check each answer, and the class confirms before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

For each challenge the pupil sets the group count from the fraction, deals the counters, reads one group and presses Check. Add the callout a quarter makes more groups than a half, so the answer is smaller when the class reaches the quarter of 8. The half of 14 is the stretch — a bigger total that still shares cleanly into two.