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At Right Angles | Vol. 2, No. 1, March 2013
Teaching of the place value system happens in the context of teaching numbers and is very closely
related to counting, grouping objects to aid counting, usage of number decomposition, learning
the patterns in number names, learning the written representations of numbers, learning the
patterns in the relationships between consecutive places, and developing a proper number sense.
Children develop facility with numbers and a sound understanding of the number system only if
sufficient care is taken in building all the above mentioned areas.
§ Recognizing and identifying in terms of objects, the numbers 1 to 9
§ Reciting, reading and writing of numerals, number names 1 to 9
§ Functional understanding of 0
§ Ordering numbers 1 to 9
§ Basic addition facts
§ Addition facts of 0
§ Complementary addition facts of 9 and 10
PRE-REQUISITES BEFORE
TEACHING PLACE VALUE SYSTEM
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Vol. 2, No. 1, March 2013 | At Right Angles
ACTIVITY
ONE
Materials required:
§
§ Loose colour papers, clips
§ Dot sheets
§ Place value card
Loose sticks or straws, rubber bands
Objective
Introduction of 10 and the
relationship between ten and
a unit
Importance
Even though this is the first activity in the teaching of
place value and is a fairly simple activity for the child it
lays the foundation of the place value system. It needs
to be done repeatedly in various situations as will be
explained later to help children understand the
relationship between a ten and a unit.
Initially the teacher should count out the sticks
(slowly, saying aloud 1, 2, 3, etc.) till he reaches 10
and show them that he is making a bundle of 10
sticks. He should clearly differentiate between the
word sticks and bundle as the sticks are 10 but the
bundle is 1.
Let each child count ten sticks carefully and make a
bundle of 10 They can be given coloured square paper sheets sticks with a rubber band.
which they can count and clip. “This is a bundle of 10
The teacher can pick up 7 sticks and ask: “How many papers.”
more sticks do I need to make a bundle of 10 sticks?”
They can also be given dot paper and asked to line 10 Since we expect children to know complementary
dots or circle 10 dots. “This is a group of 10 dots.” facts of 10 by now, they should be able to answer
this. They can now be shown how to write ten using a
place value card with headers. The use of place value In a similar way the teacher can pick up 12 sticks and
cards (see photograph) facilitates placing of materials ask: “I need to make a bundle of 10 sticks. What do I
do?” and the corresponding number cards in the right The children will suggest that he remove 2 sticks
places. From the beginning children must see clearly and bundle the rest.
the relationship between the activity or the
Children can be given some seeds and asked to make manipulative and the procedural rules of recording
a group of ten. It is important however to use and and writing.
emphasize the right language: “This is a group of 10
seeds.”
Tens and units sticks
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At Right Angles | Vol. 2, No. 1, March 2013
ACTIVITY
TWO
Materials required:
§
§ Loose colour papers, clips
§ Dot sheets
§ Place value card
§ Flash cards for number names,
numerals, objects
§ Beads and string
Loose sticks or straws, rubber bands
Objective
Learning to count in tens: 1
ten, 2 tens, and so on, up to 9
tens; and their number names
ten, twenty, etc.
We now repeat activity I by working with more sticks and making several bundles of 10 sticks.
Point out that the bundle that they are making has 10 sticks.
As mentioned earlier one needs to emphasize the language aspect by saying: “Here is 1 bundle of sticks. How many
sticks?” Ten. “Here are 2 bundles of sticks. How many sticks?” Twenty.
Now the teacher can ask various children to make different numbers of bundles and teach number names for
those. They can record them using the place value cards.
The teacher can pick up some bundles and ask “How many sticks?” They first answer by counting the number of
bundles and then verify their answer by opening up the bundle and counting the sticks.
Children can also do some exercises with dot paper. They should also be given worksheets which require them to
write the numbers for given pictures and draw pictures for given numbers. They can build bead strings with
different tens.
Finally children can be given flash cards consisting of pictures of bundles and corresponding number names for
matching.
Bead string for tens Dot sheet
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Vol. 2, No. 1, March 2013 | At Right Angles
ACTIVITY
THREE
Materials required:
§
§ Ten square strips, loose square slips
§ Dot sheets
§ Place value card
§ Flash cards for number names,
numerals, objects
§ Number line strip(0 to 99);
permanent number line can be
drawn below the blackboard
§ Number cards
Loose colour papers, clips
Objective
Counting, recording and
writing numbers
§ From 11 to20
§ From 20 to 99
We can now repeat Activity II by working with several
bundles of 10 sticks and loose sticks.
Let the children count objects not exceeding 100
(objects kept loose). Show how grouping them into
tens makes the task easier.
Let them count objects not exceeding 100 (objects
kept in tens and ones).
Let them count both discrete objects (seeds, beads)
and continuous objects (line of tiles, strings of beads
or flowers, paper rolls with regular markings) not
exceeding 100.
Show them some tens and some ones.
Ask from twenty onwards. 61 is ‘sixty one’; the number them to show fewer sticks than what you have
put name matches with the way it is written. This in front of them.
problem exists to varying degrees in other languages Give them a number and ask them to pick out the
as well. required number of tens and ones
Hence while teaching children to record numbers Give them a sheet of paper with some dots and let
from 11 to 20 it is necessary to emphasize their children circle the tens and ones when you call out a
decomposition: ten and one make eleven, ten and number.
two make twelve, etc., so they associate the tens
Give them various activities which make them record place digit and units place digit with the correct
and write different numbers. number.
Common errors: When asked to write thirty one, a Practice: The teacher can ask the children to turn to
child writes 13. He has not understood that 13 is 1 ten the correct page of a book, given the page number.
and 3 ones, whereas 31 is 3 tens and 1 one.
Children should also be given worksheets which
One major difficulty with teaching the writing of require them to write the numbers for given pictures
numbers from 11 to 19 is caused by the mismatch and draw pictures for given numbers. The semibetween the way the number is written and the name concrete representation is necessary till the children
by which it is called; e.g., 14 is ‘fourteen’: the word reach the take-off stage.
four comes first, which does not happen for numbers
Place value card