Choosing a favorite math unit is hard! I love teaching them all! If I had to pick one, it would definitely be place value! Teaching place value in first grade can be tricky. It is so important that our students have a strong conceptual understanding our our number system. Setting a great number sense foundation is essential for all future math learning! Today, I wanted to share some tips, tricks, and activities that I love for teaching place value in 1st grade.

You can find all of the activities mentioned in the post here!

1. Magic 10

Our first lesson in place value in first grade is always understanding the importance of the number 10! We talk about how grouping items by 10 helps us to count. We look closely at teen numbers and discover that all teen numbers are made up of a group of 10 and extras!

During our Small Group time, we continue to explore the number 10. We investigate how the digits in the number changes when we have a teen number. Instead of 1 ten and 0 ones, we have 1 ten and extra ones.

2. Using Manipulatives to practice bundling 

I always start my small group lesson by putting a pile of connecting cubes in the middle of the table. I ask students for ideas of how we could count the cubes. We work together to group the cubes to make ten trains and count by 10s first, then the extra ones, and discuss how much easier it is to count the cubes this way than counting all of the cubes by ones. 

We continue building numbers and use a place value chart and practice  moving the groups of 10 items from the ones place to the tens place.

Before bringing out the base 10 blocks, I always want students to have a concrete understanding of how we turn 10 ones into a ten.

This means we start with manipulatives like cubes, mini erasers and cups, and straws. Anything that can be physically be bundled together. 

By using these manipulatives before base 10 blocks, students are able to see that the 10 ones get grouped together and turned into a 10 rather than just traded for a 10.

3. Mini lesson slides

For my whole group lessons I love using Mini lesson slides to teach. They are great for introducing and modeling new concepts and having time for some quick guided practice! For most of my lessons, I have students bring a dry erase board and marker to the rug. They also sit next to a math partner and we do frequent turn and talks to share our thinking. This allows all students to be engaged in learning!

4. Place Value Math Mats

After our whole group mini lesson, I meet with each of my math small groups at the teacher table where we continue the lesson with hands- on practice! 

One of my favorite small group activities is using math mats!

To prep, I simply print enough copies for each student in the group and slide into a dry erase pocket! We use manipulatives to complete practice problems together!

I also love re-using the activities later as a math center that students can do independently! It is so helpful that they are already familiar with the activity and I don’t have to spend a ton of time explaining it when introducing math centers! Read more about how I run my Guided Math Small Groups here!

Using slinkies to learn about expanded form is one of our favorite lessons! The kids learn that when we represent numbers in expanded form, we stretch the number out and write the value of each digit!

5. Place Value Math Wall

As we learn new place value vocabulary, I like adding place value posters to our math wall. This is a great visual to keep track of our learning and is available for students to reference.

I also keep a ring of mini posters at my teacher table for small group lessons. 

I also give students an individual place value vocabulary sheet to keep in their math folders so they always have it available when working independently. 

6. Place Value Games

We also practice our place value skills with fun math games! Two of our favorites are:

Place Value Memory Match (FREEBIE!)

Students play memory match and find the pairs of numbers and base 10 blocks! You can grab the game here for free!

Base 10 Place Value Solve the Room

Solve the Room is one of our favorite math centers in first grade! Each week I tape a new set of math task cards around the classroom. When students visit this center, they grab a clipboard and a recording sheet and walk around the classroom solving the math problems. After they finish, they visit the Grading Station and check their work! You can read more about our Guided Math Center routines in this blog post!

Find Base 10 Solve the Room here!

You can find the Solve the Room Yearlong Bundle here for task cards to use every single week covering over 40 first grade math skills!

BONUS TIP: Place Value Number Rock Song

Warning- when you play this song for your students it will 100% be stuck in your head for weeks. It is the catchiest song, and students will beg to listen to it multiple times a day!  it’s pretty cute when your entire class is singing along every single word!

Watch it here!

I hope this post gave you some ideas for teaching place value in 1st grade!

You can find all of the place value lessons and place value activities from this post here! Or click the picture below!