Place Value Games

What You Will Need for these Place Value Games

These place value games all require one or multiple decks of index cards that each have a number from 0 to 9 on them and a decimal point on one card.

How to Setup the Place Value Games

Step 1:

Group the students in pairs or several students. They will play as a team or they can play one on one if you make enough decks. 

Step 2:

Each student then picks a shuffled downturned card to decide who begins. Whoever draws the higher card goes first. 

Step 3:

The deck is reshuffled by someone who is not placing the cards. When a student takes his or her turn, the cards are chosen one at a time and placed in one of eleven positions.

Tip: It may be helpful to have a strip of paper or a play board like the illustration above that is long enough to hold the eleven cards with eleven positions marked. When a card is placed, it cannot be put in another position. I have also done this by making the cards really big and using the rail of the chalk board to set them on.

Step 4:

Each turn consists of selecting all eleven cards and placing them where the player believes it will make the greatest number. The decimal point makes the game challenging. It must be placed in the first open position to the left.

Step 5:

After the first player finishes, his or her number is recorded in a place that all players can see. The next player uses the reshuffled deck to try to construct a number greater than the first. Play continues for a specified amount of time. The winner is the player who constructed the greatest number.

And let the place value games begin!

Place Value Game Variations

Variations of the lesson include designing a bulletin board so that the whole class can play these place value games for those few minutes before the dismissal bell rings. It can be an ongoing competition for the duration of the unit.

The game can also be played using all the cards but having fewer positions. Some cards will not be used. Trying to construct the least number is also an option.

Importance of Place Value and Other Teaching Methods

This is one of those lessons that really has to be hammered home. There are some lessons in math that students will not use regularly in the real world. However, place value is something they will use EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THEIR LIVES no matter what profession they go into.

The students should know that. You need to make sure they understand that this is one of the most important concepts they will learn in math. Almost as important as Adding, Subtracting, Multiplying and Dividing.

With that said I want to make sure you have ample resources to help you teach your lesson on place value.

Below are links to some Place Value Worksheets, Guided Notes, PowerPoint Presentation, Bell Ringer, Exit Quiz and more!

I always start class with the Bell Work from the day before to refresh on what we did yesterday. Then I introduce the new lesson with the Slide Show and the students follow along with their Guided Notes. My class is 100% paperless so they fill in the Guided Notes with on their iPads. We are a 1 to 1 school so they all have them. They use the draw tool in Google Classroom to write on the PDFs.

If you want to go paperless here is a webinar on how to set everything up:

HYBRID FLIPPED CLASSROOM WEBINAR

When we finish the notes and examples the students work on their Homework Assignment until there are 5 minutes left in class. Then they have the last 5 minutes to do their Exit Quiz and turn it in.

I have used this same method with both 90 minute block scheduling and 45 minute periods. There are plenty of resources below to fill a block.

Here are some Videos for More Ideas on How to Teach Place Value!