Place Value Blocks
Build any number from ones, tens, hundreds and thousands blocks, trade ten for one, and see it written in standard, expanded and word form.
How to use it
Use + and − to add or take away blocks in each place. When a place has ten or more blocks, Group 10 trades them for one block in the next place to the left. Break 1 does the opposite: one ten becomes ten ones. The number underneath never changes when you trade, only the blocks do. Type a number and press Show it to see it built with the fewest blocks.
In the Challenge, build the number shown and press Check. Any set of blocks with the right value counts, and the tool tells you if trades would use fewer blocks.
The math: ten of one place make one of the next
Our number system is base ten. Ten ones make a ten (a rod), ten tens make a hundred (a flat), and ten hundreds make a thousand (a cube). Because every place is worth ten of the place to its right, each digit only needs to say how many of that block there are, from 0 to 9. In 3 407 the 0 holds the tens place open: there are no tens.
The same number can be written three ways. Standard form uses digits (3407). Expanded form shows the value of each digit (3000 + 400 + 7). Word form is how we say it (three thousand four hundred seven). Trading is the idea behind regrouping in addition and subtraction: when you "borrow" in 52 − 18, you are breaking a ten into ten ones.
- Build 46 with 3 tens. How many ones do you need?
- What is the biggest number you can build with exactly 5 blocks?
- Why does 1000 need four digits but 999 only three?
Free to use, no account needed. It runs in your browser: nothing you type, and no sound from your microphone, is sent to Fieldbook.
Hands-on lessons to pair with Place Value Blocks
Ready-to-teach units, each lesson a printable teacher guide and student sheet. Your first three lessons are free.
Measure It: Length, Time and Mass in the Real World
Whose foot is the right ruler? How long is a minute, really? Is a kilogram of feathers lighter than a kilogram of rocks? Four lessons where students measure length, time and mass with real tools, then use their own data to settle an argument.
Data Detectives
How fast are our reflexes? Which graph is telling the truth? Do taller people really have bigger hands? Three lessons where students collect their own measurements and find out what numbers can and can't tell you.
Weather Watchers: What Will the Sky Do Today?
Is it sunny, windy or wet today, and how can we tell? Young scientists keep a class weather chart for two weeks, build wind socks to catch the wind and make a rain gauge from a bottle to measure the rain.
Three full lessons, free
Make a free account and download any three Fieldbook lessons, from any grade or subject, as printable PDFs. No card needed.
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