Read the story aloud slowly, then take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. Do not push for the total yet — this hook is only about spotting the action ("6 teams OF 4" is equal groups, so it multiplies).

What in the story made you think that? Revoice a strong answer that points to the phrase, not the numbers.

Work each story aloud, underlining the action word before naming the operation. Keep pulling pupils back to the action word — head off the reflex of grabbing numbers and adding.

Story 1, altogether: hurler scores 24 and 18, "in one match AND the next" joins them, adding, 24 + 18 = 42 points.

Story 2, left: Cian had €52, spent €27, "spent" means gone, taking away, 52 − 27 = 25, has €25 left. Ask: added or gone?

Story 3, equal groups: 6 teams, each has 4, "each" is the tell — six equal groups, multiplying, 6 × 4 = 24 players. Pause and let them predict the operation before you reveal it.

Story 4, share fairly: 18 medals shared equally between 3 teams, division, 18 ÷ 3 = 6 each. Link back to Story 3 — times and share are opposites.

Story 5, two-step: shop has 45 sliotars, sells 28, then 20 more arrive. Ask how many events happen before writing anything — two. Take away first: 45 − 28 = 17. Then add: 17 + 20 = 37 sliotars. Write both sentences one under the other so they see 17 feed into the second step.

This round is for talking it through together — pupils take turns at the board and the class agrees or corrects out loud. Keep it brisk: four turns in eight minutes is about two minutes each.

Work the stories in the order shown; the round builds from a plain add through change, equal groups, and finally a fair share so all four single operations are met. For each story, before the pupil at the board writes, put the whole-class pacing question to the room — which word told you which operation? Take a couple of hands-up answers, then the pupil at the board underlines the action word and says "add / take away / times / share" before writing the sentence. This keeps the back rows with each turn instead of watching one pupil write in silence.

• Story 2 (change) is the one that catches people — some will subtract 50 − 40, which is correct; watch for anyone adding.
• Revoice: so "rows of" means equal groups, and equal groups means we times.

These are the practice questions — five stories, five board turns. Pupils take turns at the board, name the operation, write the number sentence, and the class confirms the answer before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

The stories rise in difficulty: a plain add, a "how many more" gap (subtract by counting up), equal groups (× 5), a fair share (÷ 6), and finally the two-step story that mixes take-away then add — the same shape as Story 5 in Watch and Notice. The last one is the key one — ask the class how many steps it needs before anyone writes, and remind them it needs two number sentences.

• Callout for each: which operation gets you closest first?
• Story 2: watch for pupils adding 60 + 42 out of habit.
• Story 5: two operations, in order — subtract first (45 − 28 = 17), then add (17 + 20 = 37).