Reading Decimals to Tenths and Hundredths

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1 Getting Started
2 Watch and Notice
3 Try It Together
4 Sketch and Write in Your Copy
5 Class Challenge
Pupil practice

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

Illustration for Getting Started Quick shopping puzzle. A shop sells two bottles of water side by side. One label says 0.5 litres. The other label says 0.50 litres. A customer thinks she's being tricked — one must hold more than the other. The shopkeeper says they hold the same amount. Who is right? And while we're at it: a price tag reads €1.05. What would happen if we rubbed out that little zero?

Teacher Notes

Pose the bottle puzzle first, then the price-tag question. Take two or three hands on each; don't settle the argument yet. Tell the class 'hold your verdict — we'll know for sure by the end of the lesson.' If a pupil claims €1.05 and €1.5 are the same, revoice without correcting: 'interesting — let's see by the end whether that zero is doing any real work or not.'

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Watch and Notice ~8 mins

Look at four numbers already on the place-value mat. The columns at the top are U for units, t for tenths and h for hundredths. Each big flat is 1, each rod is one tenth, each small cube is one hundredth. Read each number aloud as you look at it.

Example 1: 0.3 (three tenths)

Three rods in the tenths column. No flats, no small cubes.

Example 2: 0.27 (twenty-seven hundredths)

Two rods and seven small cubes. Two tenths and seven hundredths together make twenty-seven hundredths.

Example 3: 1.05 (one and five hundredths)

One whole flat, no rods, five small cubes. The empty tenths column is doing important work: it holds the place.

Example 4: 2.30 (two and three tenths)

Two flats and three rods. The hundredths column is empty — and 2.30 is the same number as 2.3.

Teacher Notes

Walk each example aloud, one at a time, pausing for pupils to predict before you confirm.

0.3 — only the tenths column is filled. Say it two ways out loud: three tenths and zero point three.
0.27 — two columns filled. Build the language: two tenths AND seven hundredths together make twenty-seven hundredths. This is the moment pupils try to call it 'naught point twenty-seven' — head it off here.
1.05 — the load-bearing moment of the lesson. Ask before revealing: 'where does the zero have to go?' The empty tenths column holds the place; rub it out and 1.05 collapses into 1.5.
2.30 — empty hundredths column. Ask: 'what would change if we rubbed out the zero?' Answer: nothing — and that question seeds the wrap-up.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Try It Together ~11 mins

Your turn at the board. We'll build a few more decimals together: when a number is called out, one of you comes up to drag the blocks into the U, t and h columns, and the rest of us check the build out loud before we agree.

Place value blocks

Teacher Notes

This round is for talking it through together — pupils take turns at the board and the class agrees or corrects out loud.

Call four to six decimals in a deliberate sequence — for example 0.6, then 0.45, then 1.02, then 0.80. After each build, ask 'is that right? how do you know?' before confirming. Listen especially for pupils naming 0.45 as 'naught point forty-five' instead of 'naught point four five' or 'forty-five hundredths'; revoice every single time. The 1.02 build is your chance to lock in the lesson 2 takeaway: the zero in the tenths column is holding the place.

+15 XP

4 - Sketch and Write in Your Copy ~2 mins

COPYBOOK MOMENT

Illustration for Sketch and write in your copy In your maths copy, sketch three place-value columns and label them U, t, h at the top. Then write each of these decimals into the columns, one number under the other, with the digits in the matching columns:

0.3
0.27
1.05
2.30

Read each one aloud to yourself after you write it.

Teacher Notes

Walk the row glancing at column alignment and the U/t/h labels — this is whole-class copybook practice, not marking. If a pupil writes 1.05 with the 5 sitting under the tenths column rather than the hundredths column, point at their U/t/h headers and ask 'where does the 5 go?' rather than fixing it for them.

+10 XP

5 - Class Challenge ~7 mins

Today's bank: 0.06 → 0.4 → 0.43 → 1.07 → 2.50. The zeros catch people out — say what each one means before you check it.

Place value blocks

Teacher Notes

This round is the practice bank — pupils take turns at the board, check each answer, and the class confirms before moving on. The same 5-problem bank reruns at home as tonight's homework, so keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

Watch for zero handling on every one:

0.06 — no tenths, six hundredths. The tenths column has a zero.
0.4 — four tenths, hundredths column is empty.
0.43 — four tenths AND three hundredths, read aloud as forty-three hundredths.
1.07 — the empty tenths column is doing place-holding work; if a pupil pauses, ask 'where does the zero have to go?'
2.50 — the trailing zero is optional but legal; the number is two and a half.

+15 XP

Pupil practice

Module 1 · Place Value and the Decimal Number System Number

Lesson 3 · Reading Decimals to Tenths and Hundredths

Download Activity Book page (PDF)

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Teacher Class Feed

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

2 - Watch and Notice ~8 mins

Example 1: 0.3 (three tenths)

Example 2: 0.27 (twenty-seven hundredths)

Example 3: 1.05 (one and five hundredths)

Example 4: 2.30 (two and three tenths)

3 - Try It Together ~11 mins

Place value blocks

4 - Sketch and Write in Your Copy ~2 mins

5 - Class Challenge ~7 mins

Place value blocks

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