Year 4 · Fractions and decimals
Money and measure problems with decimals
Solve simple measure and money problems involving fractions and decimals to two decimal places
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Solve simple measure and money problems involving fractions and decimals to two decimal places
Key learning points
- • Pounds and pence
- • Adding and subtracting amounts
- • Change and comparing prices
- • Fractions of amounts and measures
This lesson at a glance
- 20 minutes
- 18 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- No marked quiz yet
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 18
Watch first
Money and measure problems with decimals
See how a fraction and a decimal can be exactly the same amount.
Do it for real
The practicals below use what the film shows, with a full method you can follow at home.
In a nutshell
Solve simple measure and money problems involving fractions and decimals to two decimal places
What you already know
Part 2 of 18
Before we start
What you already know
You can compare decimals and add and subtract whole numbers.
Key words
Part 3 of 18
Key words
Words you'll need today
- pence
- Hundredths of a pound — 100p = £1.
- two decimal places
- Two digits after the point, as money is always written.
- change
- What you get back: what you paid minus the cost.
Learning cycle
Part 4 of 18
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 — Money as decimals
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 18
Learn
Pounds and pence
£3.45 means 3 whole pounds and 45 hundredths of a pound — 45p. Money always shows two decimal places, so £3.4 should be written £3.40. 250p is £2.50, because every 100p makes a pound.
Explore the idea
Part 6 of 18
Learn
Adding and subtracting amounts
£4.60 + £2.75: add the pounds to get £6, add the pence to get 135p, which is £1.35, so the total is £7.35. Or use column addition with the points lined up — the points must sit directly above each other.
Quick check
Part 7 of 18
Quick check
£2.30 + £1.85 =
Reset break
Part 8 of 18
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 9 of 18
Quick check
Change from £5 for a £3.40 item:
Learning cycle
Part 10 of 18
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 — Solving problems
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 18
Learn
Change and comparing prices
You pay with £10 for something costing £6.85. Count on: 15p to £7, then £3 to £10, so the change is £3.15. Counting on beats column subtraction for change nearly every time.
Explore the idea
Part 12 of 18
Learn
Fractions of amounts and measures
Half of £5.60 is £2.80. A quarter of 2 kg is 500 g. Three quarters of a 1.5 litre bottle is 1.125 litres — or say it as 1 litre and 125 ml. Same maths, different units.
Quick check
Part 13 of 18
Quick check
175p written in pounds is
Quick check
Part 14 of 18
Quick check
Half of £7.40 is
Common mix-ups
Part 15 of 18
Common mix-ups
Things people often get wrong
- Writing £3.5 when you mean £3.50.
- Treating 45p as 0.45 of a pound but then writing £45.
- Lining up money columns by the right-hand digit instead of the decimal point.
Challenge round
Part 16 of 18
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Mastery quiz
Part 17 of 18
No quiz for this one
This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.
Lesson round-up
Part 18 of 18
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
Not played
Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
The cost of a school trip
A school is planning a trip to a wildlife park. The coach costs £480 however many people go. Entry costs £9.50 for each pupil and each adult goes free. The school says every pupil must pay the same amount, and the trip must not lose money.
If 60 pupils go, the coach works out at £8 each, so the total for each pupil is £17.50. If only 40 pupils go, the coach works out at £12 each, so the price rises to £21.50. The teacher explains that the coach is a fixed cost and the entry is a cost per person — which is why the price per pupil changes when the number changes.
The school decides to charge £20 and to use anything left over for a second trip later in the year.
Written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Work out the total cost of the trip if 50 pupils go.
- Show why the price per pupil falls when more pupils go, using numbers.
- At £20 each, how many pupils must go before the trip makes money? Show your working.
Working out
Working outDo the practice questions on paper, showing every step — not just the answer. Mark them yourself and circle anything you got wrong.
10–15 questions
Worked example, explained
WritingCopy one question out and write underneath, in words, why each step works.
1 question, 4–5 sentences
Problem in words
Working outWrite your own real-life problem that uses today's method, then solve it.
1 problem + solution
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 18 · Watch & discover