Place Value & Number Sense Cheat Sheet

A printable reference covering place value, ones, tens, hundreds, expanded form, comparing numbers, skip counting, and rounding for grades K-2.

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Place value and number sense help students understand what numbers mean, not just how to say them. This cheat sheet gives young learners a clear reference for ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands. Students use it to build numbers, read numbers, compare numbers, and notice patterns. It is especially helpful when working with base-ten blocks, number lines, and early addition and subtraction. The most important idea is that a digit’s value depends on its place. For example, in $247$ , the $2$ means $200$ , the $4$ means $40$ , and the $7$ means $7$ . Students should know that $10\ \text{ones} = 1\ \text{ten}$ , $10\ \text{tens} = 1\ \text{hundred}$ , and $10\ \text{hundreds} = 1\ \text{thousand}$ . Comparing, skip counting, and rounding all become easier when students understand place value.

Key Facts

In base ten, $10\ \text{ones} = 1\ \text{ten}$ .
In base ten, $10\ \text{tens} = 1\ \text{hundred}$ .
In base ten, $10\ \text{hundreds} = 1\ \text{thousand}$ .
The value of a digit equals the digit multiplied by its place, such as $4\ \text{tens} = 4 \times 10 = 40$ .
Expanded form shows the value of each digit, such as $358 = 300 + 50 + 8$ .
When comparing numbers, use $>$ for greater than, $<$ for less than, and $=$ for equal to.
To compare two numbers with the same number of digits, start with the greatest place value and move right until the digits are different.
Skip counting follows a pattern, such as $5, 10, 15, 20, 25$ when counting by $5$ s.

Vocabulary

Digit: A digit is one symbol used to write numbers, such as $0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,$ or $9$ .
Place Value: Place value is the value a digit has because of where it is in a number.
Ones: The ones place tells how many single units are in a number.
Tens: The tens place tells how many groups of $10$ are in a number.
Hundreds: The hundreds place tells how many groups of $100$ are in a number.
Expanded Form: Expanded form writes a number as the sum of each digit’s value, such as $426 = 400 + 20 + 6$ .

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Reading a digit without using its place value is wrong because the digit $5$ can mean $5$ , $50$ , or $500$ depending on its place.
Writing expanded form as digits only is wrong because $372$ should be $300 + 70 + 2$ , not $3 + 7 + 2$ .
Comparing numbers from right to left is wrong because the greatest place value should be checked first, such as the hundreds place before the tens place.
Mixing up $>$ and $<$ is wrong because the open side points to the greater number, so $82 > 28$ .
Forgetting to make a new ten is wrong because $10\ \text{ones}$ must be traded for $1\ \text{ten}$ .

Practice Questions

1 Write $463$ in expanded form.
2 Which number is greater: $58$ or $85$ ?
3 Count by $10$ s starting at $120$ and write the next $4$ numbers.
4 Explain why the $3$ in $305$ has a different value than the $3$ in $35$ .