Place value to 1,000

What they’re learning

Your child is learning that the position of a digit tells its value. In 472, the 4 means 400, the 7 means 70, and the 2 means 2. They should be able to build, read, write, and decompose numbers to 1,000.

Explain it to my child

A digit is like a person sitting in a seat: the seat changes how much the digit is worth. In 352, the 3 sits in the hundreds seat, so it means 300.

Try it together

Use three labelled spaces on the table: hundreds, tens, ones. Put coins, buttons, or LEGO pieces into each space to build numbers such as 243. Ask your child to say the number and then rebuild it a different way, such as 2 hundreds, 3 tens, and 13 ones.

Practice

1. What is the value of the 6 in 684?
2. Write 507 in expanded form.
3. Build 329 as hundreds, tens, and ones.
4. Which number has 8 hundreds, 0 tens, and 4 ones?
5. What number is 400 + 70 + 9?

Check understanding

• Can your child explain why the same digit can have a different value in a different position?
• Can they decompose a three-digit number in more than one way?