Gather the class by "the hollow log." Introduce Biscuit: "G'day! Today we're counting a really big pile of gumnuts — bigger than ever before."
Model building a four- and five-digit number with place-value columns. Write 14 605 and think aloud, pointing to each column:
Emphasise the role of 0 as a place-holder (the tens column) — "no tens here, but the column still matters, or the number would change."
Work through two numbers together, the teacher scribing as students direct. Build them from gumnut bundles or place-value blocks first, then write the numeral and the words.
Together 1. Build 3 240. How many thousands? Hundreds? Tens? Ones? Say it, then write it in words.
Together 2. Biscuit found ten more bundles of one thousand. What number do we have now? What changed and why?
Students complete the worksheet "Counting the Big Gumnut Pile" individually (reading, writing and partitioning numbers to tens of thousands). Circulate and prompt with place-value language.
Early finishers: make the largest and smallest number they can from the digits 4, 0, 6, 1, 5 and read both aloud to a partner.
