Getting Ready to Teach Place Value
As we all know, this is a big topic! We practice place value and number sense skills all year long in the primary classroom. Over the years, I have learned some tips and tricks that have helped my students be successful. One of those is to use fun picture books! Everyone loves story time, so why not weave in some math skills during this time, too? As you prepare to teach place value in your classroom, it's time to head to the library or your local bookstore to look for these fun reads.
Earth Day - Hooray! by Stuart J. Murphy
I know, at first glance, this doesn't sound like a place value picture book. But, I promise, it is! In this book, your students will follow along as friends Ryan, Luke, and Carly work hard to collect and recycle 5,000 cans for Earth Day. Their plan is to collect these cans so that they can turn them in and make enough money to buy some flowers for a local park. While they tackle this task, they'll also get a lesson in place value as they count!
This book is also filled with tons of fun facts about recycling and why it's important to take care of the earth, so it really serves two purposes. This is such a fun read because the kids are always so interested in the storyline that they often forget that they are counting and practicing place value along the way! Our students benefit from the concrete math examples provided in this book. We're going beyond worksheets here and putting math to work in real-life scenarios!
This would be a fun book to read during the month of April to connect it to both Earth Day and place value. But really. . . you can read it any time of the year!
Place Value by David Adler
Ready to see a silly picture book for teaching place value? I know you'll love all the monkey business in this book! In this story, the monkeys are trying to bake the biggest banana cupcake ever. This requires A LOT of ingredients. This silly concept builds the perfect scenario to practice place value in a fun way.
Students will love following along to see how place value plays a crucial role in getting the recipe amounts correct. This book is filled with humor, informative charts, and crystal-clear explanations that are perfect for your classroom. Not to mention, the monkey theme is pretty fun too! Give this book a try as you target place value in a way your students likely haven't thought about before.
Penguin Place Value: A Math Adventure by Kathleen L. Stone
This one might be my favorite on the whole list. It was written by a primary teacher, so it covers this skill in a way that teachers can get on board with! In this charming picture book, students will follow a family of penguins who are working hard to stock their store with fish they caught. This book has a delightful rhyming rhythm that students will absolutely love! The simple, crayon-like illustrations are a lot of fun too!
In the book, students will practice tens and ones by counting fish and putting them in groups. This book is one that I actually like to use examples with as we read. You could use mini fish counters, base ten magnets up on your board, or draw fish on chart paper as you go.
You might even consider reading it a second time while students are sitting at their desks with base ten blocks, or manipulatives so that they can model the math adventures as you read. Trust me, it makes all the difference and will really make the information in the book stick!
More Penguin Place Value: Hundreds, Tens, and Ones by Kathleen L. Stone
Once your students have mastered the math in the last book, present them with a challenge by reading the second book in this collection. Your students will love revisiting the family of penguins to tackle hundreds, tens, and ones!
In this book, students will be introduced to notation form and key number words. This book also uses the same rhythmical text and adorable crayon illustrations, making it an instant favorite! Both of these books use an interactive approach, so students are asked to answer questions as they read. This will get those mental math brains working and help the concept of place value stick!
The author has even included suggested learning activities at the end of this book to follow up and continue practicing place value with your students.
Digit's Place by Megan Bell Smith
I've got one more fun option for you on this list of picture books for teaching place value! Digit's Place is a book I know your students will love! In this book, you'll follow the story of Penny Penelope Payne who is having trouble with her math homework. Her mother helps her understand this concept with a story of Digit in the Base Ten Woods.
This book teaches place value with funny examples and helps students learn to bundle numbers as they move up to the next place and multiply by tens. This book goes well beyond tens and ones. . . it goes all the way up to 1 billion. It will provide a fantastic, high-level example of how place value will play a role in math lessons for years to come!
There are also place value charts and practice worksheets included in this story to help deepen understanding and solidify this topic. Give this book a try with your students to help them grasp the concept of place value.
More Resources to Teach Place Value in Your Classroom
After reading, you might be looking for some ways to practice with place value in your room. I am a huge fan of using base ten blocks, which is why I actually create "Base Ten Boxes" for each student. You can read all about those in this post, but basically - each child gets a food storage container filled with base ten blocks to take to their desk. As we practice, they use the boxes to model the numbers we're working on.
I find these to be super helpful in making these math concepts a bit more concrete. For more of my favorite math tools for teaching number sense, check out this post as well. These tools have helped so much when it comes to successfully teaching place value.
Base Ten Block Worksheets & Activities
Another resource I use alongside these math manipulatives is my Base Ten Block Worksheets and Activities. These work beautifully in small groups, and whole groups, as well as review activities for center time. In the resource, you'll find posters to explain place value, easy-to-use base ten worksheets, as well as math center activities that ask students to build numbers.
The posters come in handy for reviewing terms and what we've learned so far. I typically use them in a whole group format to provide examples for things like groups of ten, comparing numbers, greater than or less than, ways to show numbers, and of course - place value! These posters also come in black and white, so you can print one in a half-size for each student to follow along with as you teach.
Next, the math centers! These activities are designed to help your kids practice building with tens and ones. There are picture cards and number cards that can be printed and laminated and used over and over again in small groups and centers. Also included are recording sheets for further accountability as you practice.
Finally, there are 26 different practice worksheets that you can use in so many ways. I often use these for independent review activities and to check in on student understanding. These no-prep pages are easy for students to use and will allow you to very quickly see how your kids are doing with these concepts. They also make for great activities to add to your sub tub or send home as homework to review.
If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to practice with place value, I know you'll love these activities. Give them a try along with the fun picture books I mentioned above to help your students get a firm grasp on place value and number sense concepts!
You can find them in my TPT Shop, along with many more activities to target place value!
Need More Support Teaching Place Value?
This is a big topic to cover in the primary classroom! If you're looking for more support in teaching this topic, be sure to check out my other posts.
- Hands On Place Value Activities
- 5 Ways to Teach Tens and Ones in First Grade
- Free Place Value Comparing Numbers Activities
- Moving Past 100: Place Value Activities That Work!
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