What each digit is worth
In 352 the 3 is worth three hundred, not three. Seeing that, and writing it, is the base of adding and subtracting with bigger numbers, regrouping included. These sheets go from counting blocks to writing numbers in expanded form, one small step at a time.
Three tasks
- Blocks. Count the flats, rods and cubes, then write the number.
- Tens and ones. 47 = 4 tens 7 ones; 352 = 3 hundreds 5 tens 2 ones.
- Expanded form. 352 = 300 + 50 + 2.
Next steps
Once place value is secure, move on to two-digit addition andsubtraction with regrouping.
Provincial curriculum links
- BC Grade 1Using base 10 and “10 and some more” with numbers to 20.
- BC Grade 2Tens and ones to 99, such as knowing the 6 in 63 is worth 60.
- BC Grade 3Hundreds, tens and ones to 1000, with zero as a placeholder.
- ON Grade 2–3Numbers up to 200 in Grade 2 and up to 1,000 in Grade 3.
Place value lands a little later in Canada than the grade labels on some resources suggest. In BC, two-digit place value is Grade 2 work and three-digit place value is Grade 3. In Ontario, three-digit numbers start in Grade 2 (up to 200) and run to 1,000 in Grade 3.
So choose the two-digit sheets for Grade 2 in BC, or late Grade 1 in Ontario, and the three-digit sheets once your class works past 100. BC’s note about zero as a placeholder is worth a sheet of its own: numbers like 307 and 450 are where students most often slip.
Summarized in our own words from the BC Mathematics curriculum (Grades 1–3) and Ontario’s overview of The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1–8: Mathematics (2020).
