The place value of digits in whole numbers

Students read a whole number of up to nine digits and decide which place a digit holds and what it is worth.

• Name the place, from ones up to hundred millions
• Write the value: the 5 in 857,963 is worth 50,000
• Find the digit in a given place, such as the ten-thousands digit of 824,795
• Spot the highest place value in 815,003

Reading and writing multi-digit numbers is standard 4.NBT.A.2; the idea that each place is worth ten times the place to its right is 4.NBT.A.1, reviewed here before 6th grade decimal work.

Print page one and keep a blank place value chart handy, from hundred millions down to ones.

• Copy the number into the chart, one digit per column, starting from the ones.
• Read the column name above the digit: that is its place.
• For the value, keep the digit and replace every digit to its right with a zero.

Check the answers with page two. The key writes values with spaces, like 50 000; in the US we write 50,000, so point this out to your child.

• Confusing the digit and its value: writing 5 instead of 50,000 for the 5 in 857,963.
• Counting places from the left: in 37,812,645 the millions digit is 7, not 3, because places are named from the ones.
• Mixing up ten-thousands and hundred-thousands: in 6,970,485 the hundred-thousands digit is 9, while the 7 sits in the ten-thousands place.

Next, try writing numbers in figures from words, then spelling numbers in words up to one million.