Place value is SUCH an important concept to teach well, since everything else in maths hinges on it. If taught well, children can use their knowledge of place value to learn addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and more. If children DON’T have a firm grasp of place value, they won’t be able to understand the value of numbers, which will hinder their ability to make progress. So, how do you go about teaching place value? Here are our favourite ideas.
Place Value Charts
Using a place value chart, use cubes or lego to show how numbers can be split into hundreds, tens and ones. Start by using several blocks of ten cubes, and individual ones to show how a number is made up of tens and ones. Explore our lego place value chart here.
You can also use this handy place value hack using bottle tops using our place value grid.
You can also ask children to build numbers using place value using our place value number builders.
Another important skill when working on place value is to be able to partition numbers into hundreds, tens and ones. This helps children break down numbers for adding and subtracting later. For example, partitioning 45 into 40 + 5. Our part whole model template is very useful for demonstrating this.
And when children have mastered the concept, you can set use these tens and ones part whole model maths worksheets to differentiate – simply write on the numbers that are suitable for each group, then photocopy!
Decimal place value chart
Decimal place value charts are a great way of showing children how decimals work. Lots of children think that multiplying and dividing by ten simply means adding on our taking a 10 – this suddenly stops working when you have to divide 25 by 10!
Money Place Value
Using money is a brilliant way to practise place value, and in fact, without a firm grasp of place value, children will struggle to understand the difference between 5p and £5 – not a good outcome! Use our money challenge cards to help children make progress in this area.
Place Value Games
If you’re looking for place value games – we have plenty! Use this place value robot machine activity in a group and call out different numbers each time, asking the children to find the correct tens and ones using the robot.
