Review: Tens and Ones Place Value with Bundles and Blocks

Think about where you have seen this before. Place value is why we can write any number at all using only ten digit symbols. This is worth learning because place value explains every number you will ever write. Watch for it today, and when you spot it, tell someone what you noticed and how you knew. Ask yourself where else the same idea might be hiding, then go and look.

Take a deep breath and look at this. Place value is the big idea of this strand. Ten ones bundle into one ten. In a two digit number, the left digit counts tens and the right digit counts ones.

The number 74 means seven tens and four ones. Build several numbers with rods and cubes and say what each digit means. If you can explain why 47 and 74 are different, you understand place value.

Try explaining place value to someone younger. Show them a bundle, unbundle it, and rebundle it. If you can teach it with your hands, you understand it. Teaching is one of the best ways to find out what you actually know. When you get it right, say thank You to God, who gave you that thinking mind.