Place Value Math

Today's objective for my before school tutoring was using place value to strengthen number sense. It's usually our first topic of the year in math, so it was a great place to start.

 I have my students use dry-erase boards to write numbers in standard from (7,565) after giving them word form (seven thousand five hundred and sixty-five), or I ask them to write a number in expanded form (7,000+500+60+5) after being given the number in standard form. It really makes reading numbers, determining the value and place of each digit, and comparing numbers much easier!

A great website to use for place-value is the University of Utah's National Library of Virtual Manipulatives.  It has the following place value blocks interactives:

With the simple base blocks, you can model a number:

With base-blocks addition, you can add numbers up to 4 digits and show regrouping if necessary:

With base-blocks subtraction, you can subtract numbers up to 4 digits and show regrouping:

To compare numbers, check out my post on balance scale equalities and inequalities!

Check out my other math posts here.