Maths task cards and concrete… | Year 5 Maths · T1 W1–2 · Materials

All numbers and contexts here are invented. Print these cards, copy them to a board, or read them with the text alternative. A ruler, counters, paper strips and a pencil are enough. Do not use real student distances, addresses, costs or needs.

Decimal cards

Card	Fictional situation	Value
A	Length of a model route in kilometres	1.235 km
B	Length of a different model route in kilometres	1.253 km
C	Third model route	1.250 km
D	Fourth model route	1.205 km

The route lengths are made-up numbers for comparing decimals. They do not measure a real route. If the context is unfamiliar, call them four measured paper strips with the same numeric values, but do not claim a classroom ruler measured kilometre precision.

Place-value cards: one, two tenths, three hundredths, five thousandths, 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, decimal point. Build 1.235 = 1 + 0.2 + 0.03 + 0.005. A zero is a placeholder, not “nothing to ignore”: 1.205 = 1 + 0.2 + 0 + 0.005.

Comparison set: 1.205, 1.235, 1.250, 1.253; 0.905, 0.950, 0.959; 2.074, 2.407, 2.470. Key: each set is already in increasing order. 1.25 and 1.250 are equal. On the print line from 1.230 to 1.260, each short tick is 0.005; 1.235 is first after 1.230, and 1.253 falls between 1.250 and 1.255, closer to 1.255.

Factor and grouping cards

24 tokens: rectangular arrays 1×24, 2×12, 3×8, 4×6; factor set {1,2,3,4,6,8,12,24}.
36 books: arrays 1×36, 2×18, 3×12, 4×9, 6×6; factor set {1,2,3,4,6,9,12,18,36}. Six available boxes, capacity eight each, gives six books per box with two spare spaces per box. Four boxes of nine each are equal but exceed the available boxes' capacity. Five equal whole-book boxes are impossible for 36; five sevens leave one.
42 cards, fresh check: arrays 1×42, 2×21, 3×14, 6×7. Seven trays of six each work. Six trays of seven each also work. Five equal trays do not: five eights leave two.
Multiples: first five positive multiples of 4 are 4, 8, 12, 16, 20; of 6 are 6, 12, 18, 24, 30; common multiples at or below 36 are 12, 24, 36. A number divisible by 6 is divisible by 2 and 3, but checking a specific array or inverse division is more useful than chanting a rule alone.

Make it tactile or low movement

For place value, use four labelled cups and counters/digits, one cup per place, or a typed table with headers ones | tenths | hundredths | thousandths. For factors, tile a rectangle with counters; a learner who cannot handle pieces can choose a row/column pair and direct a partner. If a physical arrangement is inaccessible, a spoken description or accessible text table works. The intended mathematical evidence is the number structure, not grasp, vision or speed.