Expanded Form

Place Value emcompasses so much!
First, we learn about the digits and place value.
I really want my students to understand that in the nuber 73,024 the three isn't a three... it's a three thousand!

Part of understanding that is breaking apart (decomposing) the numbers into expanded form. That means the number 73,024 gets decompsed into
70,000 + 3,000 + 20 + 4
We look at each digit in the number and the value of that digit. Then when we add it all up we get the standard form of the number.



If you're still confused, this video is not very fun but it does a good job of explaining expanded form.

Another part of place value is understanding number lines and where numbers go on a number line. 

Most kiddos come to third grade being able to place the number 15 between 10 and 20. But I want them to be able to place 4,900 between 4,800 and 5,000. That's a bit trickier!