MATH
Place Value Popsicle Sticks

Submitted by: I Love That Teaching Idea! Staff
From: Nibley, Utah
Date Submitted: March 17, 2001

When my students were having difficulty with putting their numbers in the correct order when learning place value, I did this simple trick. I passed out a popsicle stick to each student and they had to draw 3 lines on it to divide it into 4 different sections. They then wrote "ONES" on the far right-hand side, "TENS" in the column over, "HUNDREDS" in the next one, and finally "THOUSANDS" on the left-hand side of the stick. Then when they had to write a number on paper, they could place their popsicle stick underneath where they were to write, and begin writing their number correctly. It didn't take long before my students were able to do it all on their own without the help of this handy aid!