Estimating and checking answers – Year 6 maths lesson
Lesson 11 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: “When is an estimate good enough, and when do you need the exact answer?”
- Later that day or the next day: the homework (20 minutes), then a practice test.
Watch out for
- Rounding and then giving the estimate as the exact answer. Use the estimate only to check the real calculation.
- Rounding every number to 10 when they are in the thousands. Round to the leading digit for a quick estimate.
Tip for home: Estimate how long a journey or how much a shop will be, then check.
What your child will learn
We are learning to estimate answers by rounding, and use estimates to check calculations.
Success looks like
- I can round numbers to estimate.
- I can say if an answer is sensible.
- I can choose how accurate an estimate needs to be.
Key words
- estimate
- a sensible, close answer worked out quickly
- round
- change to a nearby friendly number
- accurate
- close to the exact answer
- check
- make sure an answer is right
What to have ready
- Paper and a pencil
- This page on a computer, tablet or phone
- For the hands-on part: Estimate the total of a few shopping items, then add them exactly and compare.
The big ideas (for the adult)
An estimate is a quick, sensible answer. Round each number to a friendly number first, then calculate.
If your exact answer is far from your estimate, check your working.
Choose how much to round: rounding less gives a closer estimate, rounding more makes it quicker.
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
- Solving word problems
- Adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators
- Multiplying fractions
- Percentages of amounts
- Calculating with decimals
- 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: “use estimation to check answers to calculations and determine, in the context of a problem, an appropriate degree of accuracy”
National Curriculum for England, Year 6: “use rounding to check answers to calculations and determine, in the context of a problem, levels of accuracy”
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.