- Jul 17

All About Place Value and FREE Back to School Crafts

School starts in less than a month and many teachers have already started decorating their classrooms and prepping resources for the upcoming year. I know firsthand how stressful it can be leading up to the first day of school. Between classroom decoration, training videos, organizing, and preparing materials, it is easy to get overwhelmed before you even meet your students! That's why I prioritize offering free resources that will help you with your ever-growing to-do list.

In this blog post, I'll share all about Place Value and my School Bus Craft and tell you how you can get it (and more resources) for free!

A product cover of a back to school place value craft.

Why do students need to learn place value?

Kindergarten and the beginning of First Grade set the foundational skills needed to understand place value. While kindergarteners are beginning to learn to read and write their numbers, they also need experience working with addition and subtraction strategies, such as five and ten frames. This skill will be built upon in the beginning of first grade and students will begin to recognize that numbers are made up of tens and ones. Later in first grade, students will work with base ten blocks to decompose numbers and add and subtract 2-digit numbers.

How do we teach place value in kindergarten and first grade?

Teaching place value in kindergarten begins with the basics. One of the major common core standards is counting and cardinality - counting starting at a number other than one, counting a group of objects, and comparing numbers within 10. This is where the beginnings of place value instruction come in. Chances are that you've heard of addition and subtraction strategies, such as ten frames, counting on, and doubles plus one. These strategies can be used for more than just addition and subtraction - they can be instrumental when teaching place value.

So, what do students need to know when working with ten frames?

Ten frames are very beneficial when students understand what they represent. Students should learn:

a ten frame can represent 10 objects at a time
ten frames are a tool that helps us represent numbers and help us add and subtract
a ten frame does not have to be full - this represents a number less than 10
to fill in the ten frames from top to bottom, left to right

While some may not realize it, kindergarten teachers are setting students up for success by ensuring this foundational skill is mastered. While the words "place value" are never mentioned in kindergarten standards, students are still learning a skill that will be built upon next year. In fact, learning how to utilize ten-frames in kindergarten helps students with more than place value; it is also crucial for addition, subtraction, and subitizing (recognizing how many numbers are in a group without counting them).

In first grade, students will continue using ten-frames, eventually graduating to twenty-frames. Students will be able to tell how many tens are in a number based on how many ten-frames are filled. This is where those subitizing skills come in - students can quickly recognize if a ten frame is filled and count the ten frames to determine the number of tens. Then, later in the year, they will be introduced to base ten blocks and will use them to decompose numbers and add and subtract 2-digit numbers.

The major takeaway?

Ten-frames play a significant part in mastering place value.

A Place Value Freebie For You!

My school bus place value craft is the perfect activity to work on ten-frame skills. It is easily differentiated for kindergarten and first grade. I like to use the simpler version at the beginning of first grade, and the more advanced version later in the year when students can decompose numbers into tens and ones!