Year 4 · Money and pocket money
Planning a tiny budget
Measure and calculate the perimeter of a rectilinear figure, including squares, in centimetres and metres
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Measure and calculate the perimeter of a rectilinear figure, including squares, in centimetres and metres
Key learning points
- • In, out, left over
- • List, price, add
- • Expect a surprise
- • Afterwards, compare
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
Introduction
Part 1 of 18
Visual introductionPicture this
Planning a tiny budget
A budget is just a plan for your money: what comes in, what goes out, and what is left. You can plan a birthday party or a school fête stall with the same steps grown-ups use.
In a nutshell
Measure and calculate the perimeter of a rectilinear figure, including squares, in centimetres and metres
What you already know
Part 2 of 18
Before we start
What you already know
You can add and subtract money and compare prices.
Key words
Part 3 of 18
Key words
Words you'll need today
- budget
- A plan that says what money comes in and where it goes.
- left over
- What remains after the planned spending.
- estimate
- A sensible guess you make before adding exactly.
Learning cycle
Part 4 of 18
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 — What a budget is
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 18
Learn
In, out, left over
Every budget has three lines. In: the money you have. Out: what you plan to spend, item by item. Left over: in minus out. If the out is bigger than the in, something has to change — cheaper crisps, fewer balloons, or a smaller plan.
Explore the idea
Part 6 of 18
Learn
List, price, add
Planning a party for £10: list what you need (drinks, snacks, a cake, balloons), write a price next to each, then add. Drinks £2.50, snacks £3, cake £4, balloons £2 = £11.50. Over budget by £1.50 — so swap the £2 balloons for £1 ones and make the cake yourself for £3. New total: £9.50, with 50p spare.
Quick check
Part 7 of 18
Quick check
The three lines of a budget are...
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
Budget is £10 and your list adds to £11.50. What now?
Learning cycle
Part 10 of 18
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 — Plan a party on £10
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 18
Learn
Expect a surprise
Real budgets always meet a surprise: the bread sells out and only the dear one is left. Good planners keep a little unspent — even 50p — so a surprise does not break the plan. Grown-ups call this a buffer; you can call it the just-in-case money.
Explore the idea
Part 12 of 18
Learn
Afterwards, compare
When the event is over, compare the plan with what really happened. Planned £9.50, spent £10.20? Work out which line went wrong and why. That check is how every budget you ever write gets better — including the ones worth thousands later on.
Quick check
Part 13 of 18
Quick check
Drinks £2.50, snacks £3, cake £4. Total so far?
Quick check
Part 14 of 18
Quick check
Why keep a just-in-case amount?
Common mix-ups
Part 15 of 18
Common mix-ups
Things people often get wrong
- Writing the budget after spending, which is a diary, not a plan.
- Spending to the exact penny with nothing kept for surprises.
- Giving up when the plan goes over instead of swapping something cheaper.
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 · Introduction