CCSS.Math.Content.5.NBT.A.1
The standard
Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10 times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in the place to its left.
Common Core State Standards for Mathematics · Number and Operations in Base Ten
What this standard means
Students need to explain how a digit’s value changes when it moves left or right in a whole number or decimal. They should connect the pattern to multiplying or dividing by 10, not just say “add a zero” or “move the decimal.”
Mastery looks like reading numbers, comparing digit values, and justifying statements like, “The 6 in 6,000 is ten times the 6 in 600.” Students often get stuck when decimals appear, or when they confuse the digit with its value.
Ways to teach it
- Give students base-ten blocks and place-value charts, then have them build 4,444 and compare each 4’s value aloud.
- Ask students to explain in writing: How is the 7 in 70,000 related to the 7 in 7,000?
- Show 3.33, point to two 3s, and ask students to write the value of each and compare them.
- Use grocery prices like $2.22 and ask which 2 shows dollars, dimes, and pennies, then compare their values.
Plan a lesson for CCSS.Math.Content.5.NBT.A.1
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Related standards
- CCSS.Math.Content.1.NBT.B.2
Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones. Understand the following as special cases:
- CCSS.Math.Content.4.NBT.A.1
Recognize that in a multi-digit whole number, a digit in one place represents ten times what it represents in the place to its right.
- CCSS.Math.Content.4.NBT.A
Generalize place value understanding for multi-digit whole numbers.
- CCSS.Math.Content.2.NBT.A.1
Understand that the three digits of a three-digit number represent amounts of hundreds, tens, and ones; e.g., 706 equals 7 hundreds, 0 tens, and 6 ones. Underst...