Take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. Write each suggested number on the IWB and slot it into a quick place-value frame so the columns spread out under it.

If a pupil offers a number with millions, that is brilliant: name the column and tell them we will see how it lives in the same frame as the smaller numbers today.

Walk each example aloud, one at a time, starting from the smaller numbers so the column structure builds upward. Between examples, take a quick hands-up answer or turn-and-name so the watching class has a voice, then revoice the best one before moving on.

• 4,073 — point at the zero in the hundreds column and ask what is holding that place. Draw out that the zero keeps the 7 in tens and the 3 in units.
• 9,999 — ask 'what comes next?', point at the empty ten-thousands column, and pause before revealing that every filled column rolls over and a 1 lands in the TTh column to make 10,000.
• 12,508 — the ten-thousands (TTh) column now has a digit in it; this is the new vocabulary for the day. Note the zero in the tens column.
• 405,612 — name the hundred-thousands (HTh) column and tie it back to the big numbers pupils called out in the hook.

Keep returning to the base-ten rule: each column to the left is worth ten of the column on its right.

This round is for talking it through together — a pupil builds at the board while the whole class reads each number aloud, then agrees or corrects out loud.

Call one number at a time: 3,072 → 70,309 → 105,008 → 800,070. Each one has at least one zero acting as a placeholder. Have the class read each number aloud before the builder finishes, then check digit by digit against the columns.

Watch for pupils who drop a zero and slide the other digits over — that is the misconception to head off. Revoice: so the zero holds the column open and keeps every other digit in its place.

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.

Give each target a quick 'what is tricky about this one?' before the builder starts:

• 8,004 — zeros in the hundreds and tens columns, with the 4 sitting alone in units.
• 60,030 — zeros in three columns; only the ten-thousands and tens are filled.
• 200,109 — leaps to hundred-thousands with a run of zeros, then a 1 in hundreds and a 9 in units.
• 700,005 — almost all zeros; only two non-zero digits, far apart at the two ends.

Let the strongest pupils predict the column count before building; everyone enters by reading the number aloud.

Keep this brisk. The whole-number place-value frame built today is the launch pad for decimals next lesson, where the same ten-times rule runs to the right of the units column.