If there's one idea that quietly powers all of elementary math, it's place value. It's what makes addition with regrouping, big numbers, money, and even decimals make sense. When place value is shaky, math gets harder every year; when it's solid, everything that follows clicks faster. Here's how to teach tens and ones so your 1st or 2nd grader truly understands them.
What place value actually means
Place value is the idea that a digit's position tells you its value. In the number 24, the 2 doesn't mean “two” — it means two tens (20), and the 4 means four ones. Same digit, different value depending on where it sits. That single insight is the whole ballgame.
Start by bundling
Kids need to see tens before they can think in tens. Grab something you can group — craft sticks, straws, cubes, even dry pasta — and bundle them into groups of ten with a rubber band. Now 24 isn't an abstract symbol; it's 2 bundles and 4 loose ones. Base-ten blocks (or printable versions) do the same job.
The order to teach it
- Count to 100 and notice the pattern in the tens (10, 20, 30…).
- Group into tens with real objects — count a big pile by making bundles of ten.
- Tens and ones notation: connect “2 tens and 4 ones” to the written number 24.
- Expanded form: 24 = 20 + 4, which makes the value of each digit explicit.
- Extend to hundreds — in 2nd grade, place value grows to 1000 (hundreds, tens, ones).
Hands-on activities that work
- Race to 100: roll a die, collect that many ones, and trade ten ones for a “ten” whenever you can. The trading is place value.
- Build-a-number: call out a number and have your child build it with bundles and singles.
- Daily count: count a collection (buttons, cereal) by grouping into tens.
Watch for these misconceptions
- “24 is a 2 and a 4.” Reframe constantly: “2 tens and 4 ones.” The words matter.
- Teen-number trouble. Thirteen sounds like “three-ten” but is written 13 — teens are genuinely confusing, so give them extra time.
- Regrouping with no meaning. If “carrying the 1” is a mystery, go back to trading ten ones for one ten with real objects.
Practice that reinforces it
Short written practice helps cement place value once your child has handled the bundles. Our 1st Grade Math packs introduce place value with tens and ones, and the 2nd Grade Math packs extend it to place value within 1000 — both built by a licensed K–5 teacher, with answer keys.
The bottom line: teach place value with things kids can bundle and trade, use the words “tens and ones” relentlessly, and don't rush. It's the foundation the rest of math is built on.