Reading Decimals to Tenths and Hundredths

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1 Getting Started
2 Watch and Notice
3 Try It Together
4 Write the Decimals in Your Copy
5 Class Challenge
6 What Did We Notice?
7 What's Next
Pupil practice

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

Illustration for Getting Started Look at the three groups of blocks on the board, labelled A, B and C. Up to now, a flat meant one hundred, a rod meant ten and a small cube meant one. Today we are going to relabel them: the flat is now 1, the rod is now 0.1 and the small cube is now 0.01. Read each group as a decimal. What number is group A showing? What about B and C?

Teacher Notes

Take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. Give five seconds of quiet think-time before any hands go up. The point of the hook is just to surface that the same blocks can mean different amounts depending on how we name them — don't correct or confirm yet, that comes in Watch and Notice.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

0.3

Watch as we build this number with the relabelled blocks. Three rods sit in the tenths column. There are no hundredths, so we read it three tenths: 0.3.

0.27

Now two rods sit in the tenths column and seven small cubes sit in the hundredths column. We read this two tenths and seven hundredths: 0.27.

1.05

Here we have one flat for the whole, no rods in the tenths column, and five small cubes in the hundredths column. The zero is holding the tenths place. We read this one and five hundredths: 1.05.

2.30

Two flats give us two wholes, three rods give us three tenths, and there are no hundredths. The zero on the end sits in the hundredths column to show there are no hundredths, so 2.30 means exactly the same amount as 2.3. We read it two and three tenths: 2.30.

Teacher Notes

Walk each example aloud, one at a time, pointing at the column as you name it.

0.3 — say three tenths and ask the class what the empty hundredths column tells us (no hundredths).
0.27 — name the tenths and the hundredths separately before reading the whole number.
1.05 — this is the key one. Stop and ask why is there a zero here? Draw out that the zero holds the tenths place so the 5 stays in hundredths. Do not move on until the class can say what the zero is doing.
2.30 — name it two and three tenths; draw out that the trailing zero sits in the hundredths column meaning no hundredths, so 2.30 is the same amount as 2.3. This anchors the comparison we return to at the end of the lesson.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Try It Together ~10 mins

Let's try a few together. When I call out a decimal, build it on the place-value mat with the U, t and h columns. The numbers we will work through are 0.6, 0.43, 0.08 and 1.04. We will read each one aloud as a class and check the columns before we move on.

Build the called decimal

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 the four numbers in order: 0.6 (tenths only), 0.43 (both columns), 0.08 (hundredths only — watch for pupils who write 0.8 by mistake) and 1.04 (whole plus the placeholder zero). Each time, have the pupil at the board place the blocks, then ask the class to read the number aloud as a whole before confirming. Listen for pupils saying nought point eight for 0.08 — that is the misconception to head off; ask which column the 8 is sitting in.

+15 XP

4 - Write the Decimals in Your Copy ~3 mins

COPYBOOK MOMENT

Illustration for Write the Decimals in Your Copy In your maths copy, sketch the three place-value columns and label them U, t and h. Then write each of these decimals into the columns, one under the other. After you write each one, read it aloud quietly to yourself.

0.3
0.27
1.05
2.30

Teacher Notes

Walk the room glancing at column labels and alignment — no marking, this is whole-class copybook practice. Watch for the 1.05 row: check that the zero is sitting in the tenths column, not skipped over.

+10 XP

5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Today we work through these numbers together: 0.06, 0.4, 0.43, 1.07 and 2.5. The zeros catch people out, so we will say each one aloud and check the columns before we press Check.

Read these decimals

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.

Pupils take turns building each target on the mat. The tricky ones are 0.06 (six hundredths — no tenths, the placeholder zero) and 2.5 (two and five tenths, with no hundredths). For each, have the rest of the class predict the column layout before the pupil at the board places the blocks, then press Check together. Revoice a strong answer: so the zero in 0.06 is holding the tenths place, and that is why it is six hundredths, not six tenths.

+15 XP

6 - What Did We Notice? ~3 mins

MATHS TALK

Earlier we read 2.30 as two and three tenths, the same amount as 2.3. Talk it through: why is 0.4 the same as 0.40? What is sitting in the hundredths column of 0.40, and does it change how much we have?

Teacher Notes

Anchor the talk to the 2.30 example the class already saw built on the board: the trailing zero there meant no hundredths, so 2.30 and 2.3 were the same amount. Apply the same idea to 0.4 and 0.40. Listen for pupils naming the trailing zero as no hundredths, so 0.40 has four tenths and nothing extra — the same amount as 0.4. Revoice a strong answer: so adding a zero on the end after the decimal point doesn't make the number bigger, because it just says there are no hundredths. Head off the common slip that a longer-looking decimal must be bigger.

+10 XP

7 - What's Next ~3 mins

What we learned today

We relabelled the blocks: a flat is 1, a rod is 0.1, a small cube is 0.01.
The first column after the decimal point is tenths, the second is hundredths.
A zero in a decimal holds a place — in 1.05 the zero keeps the 5 in the hundredths column.

Coming up

Next we will put decimals onto a number line, so we can see exactly where a number like 0.7 or 0.34 sits between two whole numbers.

Teacher Notes

Keep this brisk. Recap the three relabelled blocks and the placeholder-zero idea, then preview the number line lesson.

+5 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 ~9 mins

0.3

0.27

1.05

2.30

3 - Try It Together ~10 mins

Build the called decimal

4 - Write the Decimals in Your Copy ~3 mins

5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Read these decimals

6 - What Did We Notice? ~3 mins

7 - What's Next ~3 mins

What we learned today

Coming up

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