Place Value is one of the keys to success in mathematics. Studying this should be a regular part of your classroom activity. House numbers supply an endless variety of possibilities for Stage 1 students trying to understand how numbers to 1000 work. Ask each student to provide a photograph from their own home or apartment number, just like these two new ones I added today – 251 and 365.
What is the same about these two numbers?
They are both a 3-digit number, they are both more than 200 and less than 400, they both include odd and even digits, they both include the digit 5 but one is in the 10s place and one is in the 1s place, they are both odd numbers because the 1s digit is odd.
What else can your students discover? Where would you peg up these two number on a 1-1000 number line in your classroom? What do each of these numbers look like when modelled with Base 10 materials?
Use digit cards to model each number. What is the largest number you can make by rearranging these 3 digits? What is the smallest number you can make? How do you know this? Explain to a partner why you know your answer is the smallest (or the largest).