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.
CAPS links
- Grade 1Begins to recognise place value in two-digit numbers to 20, splitting them into tens and ones.
- Grade 2Recognises the place value of two-digit numbers to 99 and states the value of each digit.
- Grade 3Splits three-digit numbers to 999 into hundreds, tens and ones.
Flard cards (expansion or place value cards) are on the CAPS list of resources for every Foundation Phase classroom. Children lay the 300, 50 and 2 cards on top of each other to make 352, then pull them apart to show what each digit is worth. The expanded form task here is the written version of that.
CAPS paces place value slowly: to 20 in Grade 1, to 99 in Grade 2, and three digits only in Grade 3. So use the two-digit sheets in Grade 2 and the three-digit sheets in Grade 3.
Summarised in our own words from the DBE’s Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) for Mathematics, Foundation Phase (2011).
