Calculating with decimals – Year 6 maths lesson
Lesson 16 of 32 in the Year 6 maths course
UK version. UK school years, UK spelling and pounds (£). · US Math Department
A complete 45-minute lesson for Year 6 (ages 10–11) that runs on this page – at school or at home. Every answer is marked straight away, with a worked explanation.
- Time
- 45 minutes + 20 min homework
- Year
- Year 6 (ages 10–11)
- You need
- Paper, a pencil and this page
- Marked
- Instantly, with explanations
For parents: how to use this lesson
You don't need to know this topic yourself. The lesson explains each step on screen, one tidy step at a time. Every answer is marked straight away with a worked explanation, so you never have to mark anything.
- Read what your child will learn and the big ideas together.
- Press Start the lesson below and sit with your child for the teaching and the worked examples (about 19 minutes).
- Let them do the practice on their own. They choose Getting started, On track or Challenge – start on On track and move up after a few right in a row.
- Finish with the exit ticket and the talk question: “How does an estimate help you put the decimal point in the right place?”
- Later that day or the next day: the homework (20 minutes), then a practice test.
Watch out for
- Putting the point in the wrong place (0.3 × 4 = 12). Estimate first: 0.3 × 4 is about 1, so 12 cannot be right.
- Dividing 3 by 4 and getting 1.3. Write 3 as 3.00 and divide place by place.
Tip for home: Share a bill or a length of ribbon equally and work out each part together.
What your child will learn
We are learning to multiply and divide decimals and change fractions to decimals.
Success looks like
- I can multiply decimals by whole numbers.
- I can divide decimals by whole numbers.
- I can change fractions to decimals.
Key words
- decimal place
- a place after the decimal point
- divide
- share into equal parts
- estimate
- a quick, sensible answer
- equivalent
- worth the same
What to have ready
- Paper and a pencil
- This page on a computer, tablet or phone
- For the hands-on part: Use money or a metre stick to act out decimal sums, such as sharing 2.40 between 4.
The big ideas (for the adult)
To multiply a decimal by a whole number, multiply as if there were no point, then put the point back: 0.3 × 4 is 3 × 4 = 12 tenths = 1.2.
To divide a decimal by a whole number, divide each place in turn and keep the point lined up.
A fraction is a division: 3/4 means 3 ÷ 4 = 0.75.
The lesson, step by step
| Part | Time | How it is checked |
|---|---|---|
| Starter: quick recall | 5 min | Marked by Classfern |
| Teaching input | 10 min | Not assessed, self-checked |
| Worked examples and guided practice | 9 min | Not assessed, marked by Classfern |
| Independent practice | 15 min | Marked by Classfern |
| Plenary and exit ticket | 6 min | Marked by Classfern, self-checked |
Starter, "your turn", practice and exit ticket are marked by Classfern. Worked examples and teaching are not assessed. The hands-on task and the reflection are self-assessed. Explanations in talk are judged by the parent and not recorded.
The lesson
It runs here on the page. No sign-up and no names – progress is kept only in this browser.
Homework and practice at home
20 minutes: 10 practice questions, 3 multiple-choice questions and 2 to remember from earlier work, then a short reflection. New questions every time, all marked instantly.
More practice
More Year 6 maths lessons
- Place value: the value of each digit
- Negative numbers
- Comparing, ordering and writing numbers
- Negative numbers and temperature
- Long multiplication
- Short division
- Long division
- Order of operations
- Factors and multiples
- Prime numbers
- Estimating and checking answers
- Solving word problems
- Adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators
- Multiplying fractions
- Percentages of amounts
- Rounding decimals
- Adding and subtracting decimals
- Fractions, decimals and percentages
- Comparing and simplifying fractions
- Converting units of measure
- Volume of cuboids
- Missing angles
- Properties of 2-D shapes
- 3-D shapes and nets
- Coordinates
- Line graphs
- Pie charts
- The mean (average)
- Ratio and proportion
- Formulae and equations
- Sequences
Curriculum
National Curriculum for England, Year 6: “associate a fraction with division and calculate decimal fraction equivalents [for example, 0.375] for a simple fraction [for example, [Fraction:3/8]]”
National Curriculum for England, Year 6: “multiply one-digit numbers with up to 2 decimal places by whole numbers”
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Our lessons and questions are our own. They are not written or endorsed by any government department, testing agency or exam board.