Take two or three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. You are fishing for the idea of splitting into tens and units (30 + 4, 20 + 6) — if nobody offers it, say 'what if we split each one into its tens and units?' and move straight on. Keep this to one minute; the splitting is built properly in the next step.

Walk each example aloud, one at a time.

• 34 × 26 — point to each box and name its partial product: 30 × 20 = 600, 30 × 6 = 180, 4 × 20 = 80, 4 × 6 = 24, then add to 884.
• 123 × 14 — show how a three-digit factor just gives one more column of boxes; the method does not change.
• 256 × 23 — ask which box is largest (200 × 20 = 4,000) and why — the biggest place-value parts multiply to the biggest area.

Stress that the partial products always add back to the same total — partitioning never changes the number.

This round is for talking it through together — a pupil at the board fills one box at a time and the class agrees or corrects out loud.

The split is already into tens and units (40 + 7, 30 + 8). Before each box is confirmed, pose a quick question to the whole class — 'what does this box come to?' — take two hands-up answers, then revoice the agreed one so the back rows hear a classmate reason it out. Watch for the common slip of multiplying 40 × 30 as 120 instead of 1,200 — head it off by saying 'four tens times three tens is twelve hundreds'.

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.

For each product ask 'which partial product is the largest here, and why?' — it is always the box made by the two biggest place-value parts. With 263 × 35 and 318 × 46, watch for pupils forgetting one of the six boxes; count the boxes aloud before adding.

Recap the three bullets quickly, pointing back at one of the area-model grids still on screen. Keep this under two minutes.