Place value activity 1

Estimated Time
35-40 minutes

Materials/ Resources needed
Paper, scale, pencil, marker, a pair of scissors

Process (How to do the activity)

 * Above is a sheet with 10 vertical lines and 10 horizontal lines. Taken together, we can see 10 'cells' in each row and 10 'cells' in each column.
 * Print 32 sheets of this '10 * 10' squares.
 * Distribute into 8 groups of 4 children each.
 * Each group will get 4 such sheets.
 * The value of 4 squares will be 4x100 = 400
 * Each group will cut the sheets such that
 * They can cut 2 sheets along the solid (darker / vertical) lines; here each sheet  (10*10 square) will have 10 such "strips".  These are "tens", each strip has 10 cells.  So each square has 10 “tens”  (They can either *cut, or work without cutting – up to the children)
 * They can cut the other two sheets along both solid (darker / vertical) and the less dark / horizontal lines
 * Each one of those sheets will have 100 cells

Developmental points/questions
'''II. Abstraction from here (1 period)'''
 * Let the children make numbers and write them down
 * Ask them what is the largest number each group can make? 400 is the answer – but check if children understand this.

In the previous activity we gave 4 sheets to students to actually cut and play with. Now let us assume children have 9 such squares.

In each group, how many hundreds are possible ? – 9

In each group, how many tens are there ? – 9 x 10 = 90

In each group, how many ones are there ? – 90 x 10 = 900

'''1-9 ones are possible; 10 ones means one ten. Ten ones is the same as one ten'''

'''1-9 tens are possible; 10 tens means one hundred. Ten tens is the same as one hundred'''.

'''What happens when we have 10 hundreds? What is it the same as?'''

'''What is the importance of ten? We count in groups of tens'''

9+1= 10 = 10 x 1

99 + 1 = 100 = 10 x 10

999 + 1 = 1000 = 10 x 100

Greatest 1-digit number + 1 = Smallest 2-digit number

Greatest 2-digit number + 1 = Smallest 3-digit number

Greatest 3-digit number + 1 = Smallest 4-digit number

Following the pattern, we can expect that, on adding 1 to the greatest 4-digit number

(9999 – nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine) we get the smallest 5-digit number

'''(9999 + 1 = 10,000 or ten thousand). Further we can expect that 10 x 1000 = 10,000 i.e.'''

9999 + 1 = 10,000 = 10 x 1000.

Do this only when children are confident – this is for advanced students

Evaluation (Questions for assessment of the child)
Suppose we have 4 digits 7, 8, 3, 5. We want to make different 4-digit numbers using these digits such that no digits are repeated in each number. For example, you can make 7835 and 3578 but 7738 is not allowed because 7 is repeated and 5 is not used.
 * 1) Making numbers

a. What is the greatest number you can make?

b. What is the smallest number?

c. Can you write down how you make the greatest number and the smallest number?

Use the given digits without repetition and make the greatest and smallest 4-digit numbers. Note that 0753 is a 3 digit number and is therefore not allowed.

Hint: Think about which digit you will use twice.
 * 1) Now make the greatest and smallest 4-digit numbers by using any one digit twice.


 * 1) Make the greatest/ smallest 4-digit numbers using any 4 different digits with conditions as given

Activity Keywords
To link back to the concept page