Decimals and Percentages - Thousandths as Decimals - Planning

In the Year 5 curriculum, a lesson on 'Thousandths as Decimals' takes students deeper into the world of decimals and percentages. This lesson is designed to enhance their understanding of decimal places and the relationship between tenths, hundredths, and thousandths. The class begins with a recap of prior knowledge, asking questions such as the number of tenths in a whole and the number of thousandths in a tenth. The teaching input includes visual aids, such as decimal representations up to three decimal places and a detailed number line ranging from 2 to 2.1, which is divided into hundredths and further subdivided into thousandths. Students are encouraged to engage in partner discussions to interpret these representations, converting them to both decimal and mixed number formats.

Differentiated worksheets and group activities are used to solidify the students' grasp of place value and decimal notation. Key questions prompt them to think about the number of ones, tenths, hundredths, and thousandths in a given number and how to represent these on a place value chart or a number line. The lesson aims to clear up common misconceptions, ensuring that children can represent decimal figures in various ways and understand the equivalence between different fractions and decimals. The plenary session includes a reflective 'Give me five' activity, where students consider what they've learned, the skills they've used and found tricky, and the resources that have aided their learning. The tasks are tiered to cater to different levels of understanding, from 'working towards' to 'greater depth', with each tier presenting increasingly complex problems involving the representation of thousandths as decimals.