Title and/or Lesson Plan #: Lesson 1: What is place value?

Lesson Overview:

This lesson will introduce the concept of place value to students. It will teach them how

to identify how many ones and tens are in a two-digit number.

Resources or Materials Needed

 Unifix cubes – teacher set

 Place value blocks – one set for each pair of students

 Teacher computer

 Projector

 Copies of Independent Practice – Lesson 1 (Appendix A)

Performance Objective:

Given a two-digit number, second grade students will be able to identify the ones and

tens place with 100% accuracy.

Time: One hour (one math block)

Step 1: Pre-Instructional Activities

Students will practice counting by ones up to ten with Unifix cubes. We will then review

how much is in a ten (ten ones).

Step 2: Content Presentation

Teacher will explain today’s topic: “Today for math, we are going to talk about place

value. We are going to learn how to count the tens and ones within a two-digit number.” The

teacher will then discuss the importance of learning place value with the class; how it is used for

adding, subtracting, and counting.

 The instructor will then present the content. “Let’s count out some two-digit numbers

with our Unifix cubes. With each ten we make, we are going to set it off to the side.” With the

teacher set of Unifix cubes at the front of the room, the instructor will count out the number 13

with the class. When 10 is reached, the stick of 10 stacked ones will be set off to the side. Then

the class will continue counting to 13. The teacher will ask the class the following questions:

How many tens were there in 13? And how many ones? So the number 13 is made up of 1 ten

and 3 ones. The teacher will point to the 1 and 3 in 13 as they say this to the class. They will then

explain to students that this is place value. A digit has a different value depending on where it is

in a number. The far right digit is the ones place, the next digit over is the tens.

For the next example, the class will count out the number 31. The teacher will follow the

same procedure as last time. When finished, the teacher will ask students how this number is the

same as 13, and how it is different.

The teacher will then show Place Value First Grade - Tens and Ones. It is a video that

can be found on YouTube (Place Value First Grade, n.d.). The video shows kids the ones and

tens place. It also shows students how ones bundle up to the next place value once they reach

ten. This video is a perfect review for students before they learn about bundling tens into

hundreds in future lessons.

Step 3: Learner Participation

Personal place value block sets containing tens and ones, will be passed out to each pair

of students. Students will be asked to count out two-digit numbers using tens and ones. The

teacher will then ask students to share how many tens and ones are in each number. The class

will practice with the following numbers: 19, 24, 42, 67.

Step 4: Assessment
 Students will be given a teacher made handout with pictures of place value blocks

representing two-digit numbers (See Appendix A). Students will be asked to label how many

tens and ones are in each number. Place value blocks on the independent practice paper were

originally found on Teacher Trap (Building Number Sense, 2013).

Step 5: Follow-Through Activities

Students will have the opportunity to practice analyzing place value on their weekly

homework packet. Students are encouraged to share this practice work with a family member,

and teach them the skills they are learning in school.