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.
In the New Zealand Curriculum
- Year 1Numbers to at least 100, with place value such as 17 being 1 ten and 7 ones.
- Year 2Numbers to 120 shown with place value, like 32 as 3 tens and 2 ones, and adding by splitting into tens and ones.
- Year 3Whole numbers to 1,000, and the value of each digit.
Two-digit sheets fit Years 1 and 2. Year 2 only goes to 120, so the three-digit sheets make most sense from Year 3, when the curriculum moves to 1,000.
When numbers reach a million in Year 5, many NZ teachers use place value houses, which group digits in threes. The hundreds, tens and ones on these sheets are the first of those houses, so the language children learn here carries straight on.
Summarised in our own words from the New Zealand Curriculum: Mathematics and Statistics, Years 0–8 (in effect from 2025), and the Ministry of Education’s year-by-year guide for parents and whānau.
