Introducing Math Manipulatives: Place Value Disks

This post is the first in a new series all about introducing math manipulatives at the beginning of the school year…or any time you are sharing a new math tool with your students!

My goal is always to move quickly out of the “playing with manipulatives” phase and get right to work. Over the years, I’ve found one of the easiest ways to do so is with a guided exploration to get students thinking about the manipulatives and how they can be used.

Today I want to share how I introduce one of my absolute favorite math manipulatives: place value disks!

Place value disks have been SO helpful for my math groups…and this year we are using them in all of our classes, from grades 1 through 4. First graders will have 10s and 1, second graders will use 100s, 10s, and 1s and so on.

(I’ll be sharing more about how we use these place value disks with math mats to represent our thinking soon…)

In the meantime, here is an easy way to introduce place value disks to your students, along with a free resource to save you time!

introducing place value disks

After an initial (and brief) time of play with a new manipulative, I guide my students through an exploration of the tools with a series of open-ended questions.

This gives students a chance to really observe and understand the math tool.

I’m sharing these questions below (they are also included in the free resource at the end of this post).

“What do you notice?”

This is one of my favorite questions to ask my students in math…I feel like I say this a thousand times a day, every day!

And I’m happy to do so because it is a simple (but powerful) way to get students to make observations and share their thinking.

I also like to ask this question when introducing new math manipulatives.

When students observe the place value disks, you may get responses noting:

“Do these remind you of other manipulatives you’ve used before?”

Students may notice the similarity between place value disks and two-color counters, which is awesome! This provides a great opportunity to show how place value disks are also counters, with specific values.

If students don’t make this next connection, this is an ideal time to show how place value disks are related to base ten blocks.

It is helpful for younger students to see the flats, rods, and units alongside the 100s, 10s, and 1s to understand how they are related.

“What patterns can you create?”

This is a great way to give students a hands-on task that allows them to observe the disks more closely.

This also provides a good opportunity to talk about each value and those zeros as students arrange them in ascending or descending patterns.

“How can we use these as a learning tool?”

I love asking my students this question! Instead of telling them how to use them, I love to generate a list of ideas with them!

There is a LOT you can do with place value disks…I can’t wait to share more about them with you soon!

a free resource to introduce place value disks

After we’ve completed this exploration, I like to begin with building simple numbers. These numbers will vary depending on the grade level:

Would you like to try this exploration with your class?

I created a set of slides featuring all of these open-ended questions for you to share with your students! It will save you so much time…just display the slides and you are ready to explore!

Please click below to grab a copy:

Would you like more posts like this? I have started working on a base ten blocks post already…

What other manipulatives would you like to see? Let me know in the comments below!

more place value resources

Looking for more place value ideas? Check out this interactive place value concept wall! It features an open-ended design so you can build and evolve the posters as students learn new place value concepts: