Place Value: Tens and Ones

Place value is about understanding what each digit in a number represents. In Year 1, children learn that the number 14 is made up of 1 ten and 4 ones (units). They partition numbers up to at least 20 into tens and ones.

Children use Dienes blocks (also called base-10 blocks), straws bundled into tens, and place value charts to physically see that 10 ones can be grouped into 1 ten. This concrete understanding is essential before moving to abstract written methods.

They also compare numbers using the language "greater than", "less than" and "equal to", and order numbers on a number line. By the end of Year 1, most children can read and write numbers to 20 in both numerals and words.

Place value is the single most important concept in primary maths. Every calculation method -- from column addition to long division -- depends on children understanding what each digit is worth.

Children who grasp place value early find it far easier to add and subtract two-digit numbers, understand money (10p = ten 1p coins), and read scales and measures. Without it, maths becomes a set of rules to memorise rather than a system to understand.

1. 1

   Use bundles of straws or sticks: make groups of 10 and count how many tens and ones you have.

2. 2

   Play with coins: show that one 10p coin is the same as ten 1p coins.

3. 3

   Ask questions like: 'In the number 16, how many tens? How many ones?'

4. 4

   Write two-digit numbers and ask your child to build them with blocks or counters.

5. 5

   Practise ordering numbers: 'Which is bigger, 14 or 17? How do you know?'

6. 6

   Use an abacus or place value chart to make the tens and ones columns visible.