Fourth Grade · Math · week 1

Place value to one million

Read, write, and find the value of a digit in whole numbers up to the millions place.

Every place in a big number is worth 10 times the place to its right. You already know this for the ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands. Now the pattern keeps going: ten thousands, hundred thousands, and millions.

Commas break a number into groups of three digits called periods: ones, thousands, and millions. Reading a number is really just reading each period like its own small number and saying its period name out loud.

📋 For the teacher
Teach it (10–15 min):
  • Draw a place-value chart with the periods labeled (millions, thousands, ones) and three columns under each.
  • Say big numbers out loud period by period; the words match the chart exactly.
  • Point out the 10-times relationship going back to what they already know from third grade.
  • Use a real large number, like a city population or the distance to a landmark, to make the size feel real.
Talk about it:
  • Why do commas group digits in threes?
  • What is the value of the digit 7 in 700,000 compared to in 7,000?
  • How many zeros are in one million, and why?

Mastery looks like: They read and write numbers to the millions place and correctly name the value of any digit.

Common stumbles: Misplacing a comma when writing a number; naming the digit itself instead of its full place value.

See it visually

Interactive, spoken-aloud tools that show this idea in motion.

Place ValueWatch ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands build big numbers.try →
Homework for this lessonType it, write it with a stylus, or print it for pencil & paper.open →
Records attendance + 15 min of Math for this learner.
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