Place Value of a Digit Worksheets

Use it as a short daily drill for a week rather than one long session. Read the first few together: point at the blue digit, name its place, then say its value. Then let students work alone for about ten minutes. When they finish, turn on the answer key and have them correct in a different color. The 5 versions switch gives you matching sheets for a rotation or a retest.

Face value is the digit itself, while place value is how much it is worth where it sits. This page practices the second idea. Children commonly answer 5 when they should say 500, or say the place name (hundreds) instead of the amount. Insist on a number as the answer. This builds on counting by tens and hundreds, and it prepares students to write expanded form and to round, which both depend on knowing exactly what a digit represents.

Start with the Digits tab set to 2 to 3 if the vocabulary of tens and hundreds is new, then move to 4 and 5 to 6 once a child answers without counting places on fingers. For anxious beginners choose 12 problems; for a class warm-up 20 is a comfortable length. If a student keeps writing the place name, ask for the value in digits only.

What should a child write for the 5 in 4,523?

Write 500. The answer is the amount the digit stands for in that position, not the word thousands and not the plain digit 7. Counting the places from the right (ones, tens, hundreds, thousands) gets there.

Why does my child keep answering with just the digit?

That is face value. Ask how many ones, tens or hundreds the digit stands for, and let them build the number with base ten blocks or coins. Saying the whole number aloud while pointing to the blue digit helps too.

How do I know which Digits setting to start on?

Have the child read three numbers of each size aloud. If four-digit numbers come out smoothly, begin on 4. If they stumble on commas, use 2 to 3 first and work upward over a few days.