Understanding Place Value

Understanding Place Value

One of the most important concepts that children need to understand deeply is the concept of place value.

Place value is much more than just locating hundreds, tens and ones and placing a value for each number.

For children to develop a deep understanding of place value they also need 

to understand that 10 is both 10 ones and 1 ten.

For example in the number 38. The value of the 3 in this number is 3 tens or 30 ones. 

In this activity, the children are using their hands/fingers to make the concept of place value visible. It is not about counting with your fingers one by one, but showing groups of tens and ones.

The children are representing different numbers by working together to show the groups of tens and ones.

Together the children represented the number 34: 3 tens and 4 ones
OR
34 ones.

Representing numbers visibly helps children to move beyond
counting one by one on their fingers.

This learning will be effectively applied when working with much bigger numbers in the 100's and 1000's. We need to know about the nature of numbers so that we can mentally manipulate any numbers, no matter how large.

Representing numbers using the blocks

The number expander

Using the interactive display to manipulate number blocks electronically.

Learning about suffixes

Why are suffixes so important?

Understanding the different types of suffixes, and how and why they are fixed to bases to create new words, is an important part of understanding how the English spelling system works.

In this activity we built a list of different suffixes by identifying them in words, from a variety of books. The children had to prove that the sufffix was a 'real suffix' by building a word sum to demonstrate their thinking.

For example: <action>

• In <*ac + tion>, <tion> is not a real suffix because <ac> is not a base (it doesn't hold any meaning); but
• in <act + ion>, <ion> is the real suffix because <act> is the base and holds the meaning.

When the children had gathered a number of real suffixes we played a game to show that there are two different types of suffixes.

As the children shared the suffixes they discovered, I sorted them into two groups. The children's task was to think about and reflect on why I had sorted them into these two groups. 

• One group of suffixes started with a vowel letter: <-ed> <-ing> <-er> <-y> <-ion> 
• The other group of suffixes started with a consonant letter: <-ment> <-th> <-ful>.

The children discovered there are vowel suffixes and consonant suffixes!

The vowel suffixes are often called 'interesting suffixes' because they might cause a change to a base:

love/ + ing--> loving

The consonant suffixes are often called 'boring suffixes' because they don't make any changes to the base:

love + ly --> lovely

We are gathering and proving different suffixes.

The children had to think about why some suffixes
were placed on the left column while others were placed
on the right column.

Here are some word sums for your family to work on together. Remember to think about any changes to the base!

love + ed --> 
move + ment -->
move + ing --> 
like + ly -->
like +ed -->
nice + ly -->

Near 20 - Maths Game

'Near 20'-A maths game to develop quick mental thinking!

How to play:

1. Use a deck of cards with numbers from 0-9.
2. Each player receives 5 cards. 
3. Each player chooses 3 of the cards to make a total as close to 20 as possible.
4. The players' score for the round is the difference between 20 and their combination.
5. At the end of each round the players discard the cards used and collect new ones for the next round.
6. The players keep a score of their differences on a 'Near to 20' recording sheet.
7. The lowest score after 5 rounds is the winner!

Maths games are fun and motivating and they provide many
opportunities to practise and consolidate important maths strategies.

Questioning, problem solving and reflecting are important skills
that are used throughout these games.
How can I choose a combination of numbers
that could be closer to 20?

Using effective mental strategies, like bridging to 10 and doubles,
strengthens children's deep understanding of
mathematical concepts.

You can play this game very easily at home by creating your own recording sheet and using numbers from a deck of cards. Ask your child to explain the game to you.

Understanding why maths learning looks different in the 21st Century is important for us to know. Please read this short article, published by the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) which describes some changes in maths teaching and learning.