Hold up the three real instruments (or show the photo) and take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. Give five seconds of quiet think-time first.

Do not resolve the readings yet — the whole lesson is about the method. If a pupil says 'about 14 centimetres', revoice it as a question: can we be more exact than 'about'?

Name the move each time: count the spaces, divide the gap, then read.

Ruler: pencil edge halfway between 14 cm and 15 cm, ten 1 mm spaces, reads 14.5 cm. Ask what one space past 14 would read.

Jug: five spaces from 300 ml to 400, so 100 ÷ 5 = 20 ml each; water three spaces up reads 360 ml. The divide-by-5 is the point — hold out for a pupil to say 20, not 10.

Scale (1.25 kg): ten spaces from 1 to 1.5 kg, so 50 g each; needle five spaces past 1 kg, 5 × 50 = 250 g, reads 1.25 kg. The 50 g spaces catch pupils who guess about 1.2.

Last scale: numbers only at whole kilograms, so find the division first — four spaces per kilo, 1000 ÷ 4 = 250 g each; needle three spaces past 2 kg, 3 × 250 = 750 g, reads 2.75 kg. Linger here; give it real dwell time.

If a jug or scale face does not render, hold up the real jug or scales (or the printed card) and work the same count-divide-read steps on it.

Show this interactive on the IWB; pupils call out each move and explain their thinking. This is a fresh reading, not a repeat of the earlier example, so pupils apply the count-divide-read method to a new value straight after seeing it modelled. This lesson is where the count-divide-read method and reading square-on are first established, so later measuring lessons reapply it rather than teaching it again.

Minimum kit per group is a ruler and a glue stick; a jug and scales can be shared as a station if you have only one or two, and any group without real kit uses the printed cards. Pupils measure at their desks with their own instruments — circulate and catch alignment slips on the spot. The class reads aloud and you reconcile any disagreement as you circulate.

Watch for the glue stick not started at zero, and for pupils reading the jug from above or below the surface. Crouch to eye level with a group to model the square-on read. Pair a pupil who is less secure with a peer who reads carefully.

Real instruments carry this step, so nothing here depends on the board rendering a jug or scale; the printed instrument cards are the backup for any group short of real kit.