Tens and Ones
A ten is ten ones bundled together.
Two-digit place value is the idea that the 4 in 43 means four tens, not four. Seeing the number three ways at once — blocks, expanded form (40 + 3) and the numeral — is what makes it stick, usually between ages five and seven.
Play this lesson with narration →10 ones = 1 ten
When we get ten ones, we bundle them into one ten-stick. That's how a two-digit number is born.
23 = 2 tens + 3 ones
Twenty-three. The 2 sits in the tens place — it means twenty. The 3 sits in the ones place. Twenty and three.
Expanded form
We can write a number expanded: 47 is 40 plus 7. That shows exactly what each digit is worth.
Try it
What number is 5 tens and 6 ones?
What parents should watch for
- Reading 43 as "four and three" rather than forty-three.
- Writing 43 as 403 when going from words to numerals.
- Teen numbers reversed — writing 61 for sixteen, because the words say six first.
- Not seeing that a ten-rod can be unbundled back into ten ones whenever needed.
Land 36 · Tens & Ones Terrace — 10 levels for ages 5–8 in the place value strand.
Play Tens & Ones Terrace in the Yaze Adventure Map — games built on this exact skill.
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