Reading and Writing Large Numbers

Vocabulary

ones

tens (of ones)

hundreds (of ones)

thousands

tens of thousands

hundreds of thousands

millions

tens of millions

hundreds of millions

billions

tens of billions

hundreds of billions

thousands of billions

trillions

tens of billions

etc

Hints and Tips

In the other Place Value activities in Lilac level activity you used coloured cards to re-inforce the concept that large numbers come in groups of 3, that is, units (or ones), tens of units and hundreds of units.

This continues as thousands, tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands.

The next group is millions, tens of millions and hundreds of millions.

This pattern continues through billions, trillions and so on.

If you keep using the same colour cards for the ones (ones, tens and Hundreds) as you did in the Blue Level work on Place Value to support your child's learning, this will help him/her recall prior learning and move on.

Use this activity as an assessment of your child's understanding of Place Value. As he/she works through the activity use the opportunity to re-call earlier learning and consolidate understanding.

When we write numbers in calculations we do not use commas. 

When writing or reading numbers in symbols it helps if you put in commas as these tally with the grouping of ones, thousands and millions etc

Remind your child to group in groups of 3 from the decimal point.

Your child will probably try to put commas from the beginning of the number, this does not work!

In Britain a billion and a trillion used to have a greater value but nowadays we follow the American short scale when counting. In fact this helps your child as the pattern makes more sense.

 

Essential Prior Knowledge

Know that the Place Value grid has a never ending number of columns.

Know that each column represents a different value.

Know that each column is ten times bigger than the one on its right and ten times smaller than the one on its left.

Know that each column has a name

Activity

This activity just follows on from Place Value 5 in this level.  In that activity you and your child worked with numbers up to 999,999,999.99

Now ask your child what he/she thinks comes next.

This may involve investigating using the internet.

The pattern of three columns continues here beyond millions and on and on

Design a Place Value grid and keep adding columns as your child discovers them.

As in the activity mentioned above: 

Work from spoken numbers, numbers written in both words and symbols.

Give your child numbers on the place value grid made with digits and ask him/her to read out the numbers or write the number in words.

Give your child practise of all these activities using numbers with many place holders.

Your child will need a lot of practise over an extended time to make sure this concept is completely understood as it is such an important part of maths learning.