The big ideaA bead is worth one, ten or a hundred, by the row it sits on.
How it works
A bead is worth one, ten or a hundred, depending on the row it sits on.
The bottom row counts ones, the middle row counts tens and the top row counts hundreds.
Each step up a row makes a digit worth ten times more, so a three can be 3, 30 or 300.
An empty row is a zero, and the zero keeps the place. Without it, 205 would look like 25.
🟦small teal: 1🟨middle: 10🟪big: 100
Tickets are worth more by size, like beads are worth more by row. (The small teal ticket is drawn as a blue square.)The same five beads on the hundreds row are worth 500.
Example 1: Same beads, different rows
Five beads on the ones row make 5.
Slide them to the tens row and they make 50.
Slide them to the hundreds row and they make 500.
Each row up is worth ten times more: 5 × 10 = 50 and 50 × 10 = 500.
Example 2: Three tickets each
Mia has three purple tickets and Ben has three teal tickets.
A purple ticket is worth a hundred, so Mia has 300.
A teal ticket is worth one, so Ben has 3.
They have the same number of tickets, but not the same worth.
Example 3: Seven hundred four
Seven beads on the hundreds row.
Leave the tens row empty: it is a zero.
Four beads on the ones row.
The number is 704.
704: the empty tens row holds the place.
Example 4: Why the zero matters
Slide 2 beads on the top row, none on the middle row and 5 on the bottom row.
That is 205.
Without the zero it would look like 25, a much smaller number.
205: two hundreds, no tens, five ones.
Words to know
place value
What a digit is worth because of the row it sits on.
zero
An empty row. It keeps the place.
ten times
Each row up is worth ten times the row below it.
swap
Ten tickets of one size swap for one ticket of the next size, like a trade on the frame.
Watch out
The same digit is worth more on a higher row. Three beads can be 3, 30 or 300.
Never skip an empty row. It is a zero that keeps the place.
A bead on the tens row is worth ten, not one.
Three rows show 0 to 999.
Try it
What is a bead on the tens row worth?
Three beads on the hundreds row. Which number?
Two hundreds, no tens and five ones. Which number?
Five beads on the tens row and five on the ones row. Which number?
Answers: 1. Ten · 2. 300 · 3. 205 · 4. 55
Try at homeAsk a grown-up to help you cut up paper in three sizes: small tickets are one, middle ones are ten, and big ones are a hundred. Give a grown-up three tickets of one size and three of another, and ask which is worth more.
For grown-upsCut paper tickets in three sizes worth 1, 10 and 100. Give three big and three small tickets and ask which pile is worth more.
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