Take three hands-up estimates for the door height, then move on — don't reveal a true value, this is a warm-up for estimating, not a test. Give five seconds of quiet think-time before the second question so quieter pupils can find an example.

Have the real tape, scale and jug to hand, set to the readings below.

Pencil, 14.5 cm: edge sits between the 14 and 15 marks, halfway across the mm divisions. Point: that in-between position is why we need a decimal at all.

Register, 0.42 kg: needle sits below the 1, so whole-number part is zero. The leading zero catches pupils out. Say zero whole kilograms, forty-two hundredths. Note it is also 420 g, and they will later judge which unit reads more clearly.

Water bottle, 0.5 l: level halfway between 0 and 1 litre, half a litre. Ask for an estimate first, nearer a quarter, a half, or nearly full, then reveal and check.

This round is for talking a single length reading through together — invite a pupil to the board to drag the cursor, ask the class to read it, then confirm.

Keep insisting on an estimate first — is it nearer 5 cm or 15 cm? — so estimation stays the skill, not just reading. The mass and capacity readings come next with the real instruments in the Class Challenge, so keep this beat to the length reading only.

These are the practice questions — real objects and instruments circulate around the room (or sit at stations) and pupils measure each one with their group's tools. Keep the pass-on rhythm brisk; the class confirms a couple of readings aloud at the end.

Hand each group a metre tape, a scale, and a jug (or run three stations if kit is short). Collect one length, one mass and one capacity from each group. Prompt the unit choice out loud: would you write the door width in metres or centimetres — which reads more clearly? Watch for pupils who write a mass under 1 kg without the leading zero.