Ages 9–10 · England · Parent guide
Year 5 maths: decimals, fractions and place value
By Mathsonaut Team · Reviewed
Year 5 expands place value in both directions: larger whole numbers and smaller decimal parts. Decimals can be confusing when children apply whole-number rules to the digits after the point. Keep naming the units — tenths and hundredths — so that each digit has a clear value, rather than treating the decimal part as a separate whole number.
What children explore in Year 5
- Read and compare whole numbers to at least 1,000,000.
- Use written multiplication and division, and explore factors and multiples.
- Compare and calculate with fractions; connect fractions, decimals and percentages.
- Read and compare decimals to three decimal places, convert measurements and reason about shape and data.
Selected topics from the mathematics programme of study for England. This is an overview, not the full curriculum or a test of readiness. Your school may teach topics in a different order.
Compare using the same units
Which is larger: 0.6 or 0.45?
| Number | Ones | Tenths | Hundredths |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.60 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 0.45 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
- Read 0.6 as six tenths. Each tenth contains ten hundredths, so six tenths is sixty hundredths.
- Write 0.6 as 0.60 without changing its value. Now compare 60 hundredths with 45 hundredths.
- Sixty hundredths is larger, so 0.6 > 0.45. More digits after the decimal point do not automatically mean a larger number.
A common mix-up: thinking 45 is bigger than 6
That comparison uses whole numbers, while these digits represent parts of one. Place each digit in a labelled column. Compare the tenths first: six tenths is already more than four tenths and five hundredths. Adding a trailing zero to 0.6 makes the equal place values easier to see.
Away from the screen
Sort decimal cards
Write 0.6, 0.45, 0.09 and 0.7 on separate cards. Draw a line from zero to one and place each card approximately where it belongs. Add 0.60 as a new card and ask where it should go. It belongs at exactly the same point as 0.6.
Ask together: “Which two cards name the same number? What does the zero change?”
Choose the next small step
If tenths are unfamiliar, start by folding a paper strip into ten equal parts. When the comparison makes sense, try ordering 0.405, 0.45 and 0.6 using a thousandths column. Encourage an explanation in place-value language.