I wish I had understood how important place value understanding was when I started teaching. It’s typically covered extensively in Kindergarten through 1st and 2nd grade – but what about after that? Third grade standards don’t include a lot of emphasis on place value but – there are so many benefits of place value review in 3rd grade.
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Why you should review place value at the beginning of 3rd grade?
Take a peek at 3rd grade Common Core Standards. There is a LOT of new math content:
- Rounding to the Nearest 10 and 100
- Multiplication
- Division
- Fractions
If students haven’t mastered the 2nd grade place value standards – these new concepts will be a new hill to climb.
Having encountered that hill with some of my 3rd graders year after year – I now know that spending quality time reviewing place value will pay off BIG later on. Consider it paying it forward.
Although we use concrete ways to teach multiplication and division – going forward it’s abstract which is very difficult for some learners.
That’s why spending time now will help learners understand numbers and number values which they will fall back on many times during the year.
Where do you start with place value review?
Start with hands-on practice using base ten blocks. In this post, I share a fun and engaging way to play a Place Value Game that your students will love and you will see the benefit immediately!
During the Place Value Game – take notes! Look for who is relying on their partner to build the numbers with base ten blocks. Ask students to build a number and then write it in extended form. Can they add 100 to that number? Can they tell you the value of a digit?
Asking questions and observing will reveal who is confident of place value and who needs more practice and review.
What do you do with that information?
There are several ways to address the data you have collected.
- Create small groups based on needs
- Place Value math centers in the first weeks of school
- Using whole group lessons to review big areas of need
Place Value Resources That Can Help
Now that you have identified your student’s place value needs – you can plan activities that will target the strategies and skills they will need to practice.
This set of Place Value Worksheets will save your HOURS of planning time!
They can be used in so many ways:
- Small groups
- Partner practice
- whole group instruction
- homework
- math center
I love to give my students multiple opportunities to work with and review place value with these Place Value task cards!
Use them during your place value unit of study and then put them in your math center rotation for continual review throughout the school year!
For an engaging and fun activity, I use this Two Truths and a Lie Place Value activity! Students LOVE to find the errors!
For a whole group activity that you and your students will enjoy – Place Value Game Show. Put your students in teams and raise the rigor and fun in your classroom!
If you need all the place value resources listed – you can save 20% by purchasing them in this Place Value Bundle!
If you want to learn more about teaching place value – these posts can help!
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