Modelling Thousandths with Concrete and Visual Tools

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1 Getting Started
2 Watch and Notice
3 Ten Times Smaller Each Step
4 Try It Together
5 Sketch the Columns in Your Copy
6 Class Challenge
7 What Did We Notice?
8 What's Next
Pupil practice

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

Illustration for Getting Started

The rule today

Here is our new rule for today: the big flat block is now worth just 1, and every block below it is ten times smaller than the one above. So the rod is 0.1, the small cube is 0.01, and the tiniest cube is 0.001. Look at the three sets of relabelled blocks on the board: the first shows 0.2, the second shows 0.03, and the third shows a single tiniest cube. For each one, read it aloud as a decimal.

Teacher Notes

Display the three relabelled-block sets (two rods, then three hundredth cubes, then a single smallest cube) as pupils settle. Take three hands-up readings, not open call-outs. Don't confirm yet — the answers are checked in the next step.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Watch and Notice ~8 mins

Illustration for Watch and Notice

0.003

Watch as we build this number with the relabelled blocks. It is just three of the smallest cubes — three thousandths, and nothing else.

0.034

Now look carefully. We have three hundredths and four thousandths. The tenths column is empty.

0.207

This one has two tenths and seven thousandths, but no hundredths. We put a zero in the hundredths column to keep it open. We call that a holding zero: it shows the column is empty but still counts as a place, so the 7 stays in the thousandths column. If we dropped the zero we would write 0.27, which is a different, bigger number.

1.045

Here is a whole flat, then four hundredths and five thousandths. The tenths column is empty again.

Teacher Notes

Walk each example aloud, one at a time, pointing at each column on screen.

0.003 — stress the two empty columns; ask what is holding the tenths and hundredths places.
0.034 — name it as three hundredths and four thousandths, not 'thirty-four'.
0.207 — this is the anti-pitfall: say the zero aloud so pupils don't read it as 0.27, and point at the on-screen holding-zero definition.
1.045 — connect the flat back to the whole; the rest of the blocks fall under the decimal point.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Ten Times Smaller Each Step ~6 mins

Illustration for Ten Times Smaller Each Step

Ten thousandths make one hundredth

Watch the board: when we collect ten of the smallest cubes (ten thousandths) they are exactly the same size as one hundredth cube. So one hundredth is ten thousandths.

Ten hundredths make one tenth

Now collect ten hundredth cubes: together they match one tenth rod. So one tenth is ten hundredths.

Each step down is ten times smaller. To go from one whole all the way to one thousandth we step down three times: ten times, then ten times again, then ten times again. That is 10 × 10 × 10 = 1000, so one thousandth is a thousand times smaller than one whole.

Teacher Notes

Build the chain slowly on the board so pupils see, not just hear, why a thousandth is a thousand times smaller than a whole.

Point at ten thousandths regrouping into one hundredth, then ten hundredths regrouping into one tenth.
Say the chain aloud: 'tenth, then hundredth, then thousandth — each one ten times smaller'.
Close with the multiplication: 'ten times ten times ten makes a thousand', so pupils can rebuild the idea in the maths-talk later.

+10 XP

4 - Try It Together ~9 mins

Now we build some together. When I call a decimal, one pupil comes up and builds it on the place-value mat using the U / t / h / th columns. Everyone else watches the screen and reads the in-words readout aloud with the class before we agree it is right. We will do five or six of these, taking turns at the board.

Build the decimal on the mat

Teacher Notes

This round is for talking it through together — pupils take turns at the board and the class reads the in-words readout aloud, then agrees or corrects.

Call five or six decimals that stretch the thousandths column and the holding zeros, e.g. 0.006, 0.012, 0.205, 1.030, 0.090, 2.003. After each build, have the class read the in-words readout aloud before you confirm. Watch for pupils dropping a column when there is a zero — pause and ask 'which column is empty here, and what is keeping it open?'

+15 XP

5 - Sketch the Columns in Your Copy ~3 mins

COPYBOOK MOMENT

Illustration for Sketch the Columns in Your Copy In your maths copy, sketch the four place-value columns and label them U, t, h, th. Then draw the blocks for each of these decimals, one under the other, and write the decimal in standard form (the normal way we write a number, like 0.207) beside each drawing:

0.003
0.034
0.207
1.045

Teacher Notes

Walk the room glancing at the column labels and the holding zero in 0.207 — no marking, this is whole-class copybook practice. Watch for pupils who draw blocks but forget to write the matching decimal beside them.

+10 XP

6 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Today we work through five decimals together: 0.008, then 0.052, 0.306, 1.009, and 2.405. Build each one on the mat and use the Check button to confirm it before we move on. The holding zeros catch people out, so we'll say each one aloud first.

Build each decimal and check

Teacher Notes

This round is the practice bank — pupils take turns at the board, check each answer, and the class confirms before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

The bank rises in difficulty: 0.008 is a single thousandths build, 1.009 and 2.405 add a whole-number part. Before each build, ask 'which columns are empty here?' For 0.306 say 'three tenths, no hundredths, six thousandths' to head off the read-as-0.36 slip.

+15 XP

7 - What Did We Notice? ~4 mins

MATHS TALK

We saw on the board that each step down is ten times smaller. So why is one thousandth a thousand times smaller than one whole? And how many thousandths would you need to make a single tenth?

Teacher Notes

Listen for pupils linking the steps they just watched: tenth, then hundredth, then thousandth, each ten times smaller, so a thousandth is ten × ten × ten = a thousand times smaller than the whole. Revoice a strong answer: 'so it takes ten thousandths to make one hundredth, and a hundred thousandths to make one tenth'. Head off the idea that a longer decimal is always a bigger number.

+10 XP

8 - What's Next ~3 mins

What we did today

We relabelled the base-ten blocks so the flat is 1, the rod is 0.1, the small cube is 0.01 and the smallest cube is 0.001.
We built decimals to thousandths and matched each block to its place-value column.
We learned to say the holding zero aloud so 0.207 is never read as 0.27.
We saw that each step down is ten times smaller, so a thousandth is a thousand times smaller than a whole.

Coming up

Next we put these decimals in order, lining up the decimal points and comparing column by column from the left.

Teacher Notes

Recap the relabelling rule once more before the activity-book practice: same blocks, new values, each ten times smaller than the one before.

+5 XP

Pupil practice

Module 1 · Place Value, Decimals and the Number System Number

Lesson 3 · Modelling Thousandths with Concrete and Visual Tools

Download Activity Book page (PDF)

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Teacher Class Feed

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

2 - Watch and Notice ~8 mins

0.003

0.034

0.207

1.045

3 - Ten Times Smaller Each Step ~6 mins

Ten thousandths make one hundredth

Ten hundredths make one tenth

4 - Try It Together ~9 mins

Build the decimal on the mat

5 - Sketch the Columns in Your Copy ~3 mins

6 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Build each decimal and check

7 - What Did We Notice? ~4 mins

8 - What's Next ~3 mins

What we did today

Coming up

Unlock the full learning experience

XP