Grade 1: Learning About Place Value
“Place value.” Grownups might have to dust off their math knowledge to remember what the term means. But for first grade students, it’s top-of-mind.
“We just finished learning numbers up to 40,” said Grade 1 Teacher Lisa Ross. “Much of our focus has been on place value and understanding the teens, twenties and thirties. Now we’re going into addition and subtraction up to the forties. We also challenge students with story problems, and we play compare and double-compare games.”
Place value refers to the position of each digit in the number. For example, in the number 27, the 2 is in the tens place value and the 7 is in the ones. Grade 1 students learn to “regroup” them by place value when they add numbers together. If you have 7 ones plus 8 ones, they will be regrouped as 1 ten and 5 ones or 15. Students show their work to ensure they understand how they got to the answer, and manipulatives, such as ten-frames and math cubes, are used to further illustrate the concepts.
Want to see if you’re as smart as a first grader? Try solving this problem: You have three numbers, represented by A, B and C. A is greater than 21 but less than 26. B is greater than 26 but less than 32. B is 3 more than A but 3 less than C. C is greater than 30. What is B?
Graland Country Day School
Graland Country Day School is a private school in Denver, Colorado, serving students in preschool, kindergarten, elementary, and middle school. Founded in Denver in 1927, Graland incorporates a rich, experiential learning approach in a traditional classroom setting, emphasizing the development of globally and socially conscious leaders who excel academically.
