Take three hands-up guesses, not open call-outs. Give five seconds of quiet think-time first. Jot two or three pupil-suggested numbers under 9,999 on the board to revisit in Watch and Notice.

The screen snapshots are static end-states, not animations. Perform the trade live with the apparatus while the board shows the finished block.

• 1,000 — physically gather ten hundred-flats and swap them for one thousand-block; say ten hundreds make one thousand as the new column appears. This is a separate beat from the zero examples below.
• 2,345 — read each column in turn so pupils hear the chunks.
• 4,070 — pause on the zero in the tens; take two hands-up answers on what is holding its place before revealing.
• 8,206 — the zero has jumped to the hundreds; take two answers on which column is empty now, then check together.

This round is for talking it through together — pupils take turns at the board and the class agrees or corrects out loud.

An individual pupil builds each called number in the Th/H/T/U columns, then reads it back. Rotate so several pupils get a turn. Start with the no-zero number (3,628) before moving to one with an awkward zero (5,030). Listen for pupils naming the empty column rather than skipping it.

Pupils take turns at the board; the class confirms each answer before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

Each number hides a trickier zero than the last. On 9,009 ask the class which two columns are empty before a pupil builds it. Have the whole class name the empty column aloud together before the pupil at the board checks — this gives every pupil a consistent part to play on all four numbers.

Keep this brisk. Recap the trade idea (ten of one column makes one of the next) as the bridge into reading numbers aloud.