Teaching place value effectively means helping students understand that a digit’s position determines its value, and the best way to do that is through a hands-on, gradual progression from concrete manipulatives to abstract representation. Start weeks before your formal lessons by practicing counting by tens past 100, then move through a structured sequence using base-ten blocks, place value charts, and finally written numerals. This foundational skill typically begins in kindergarten and first grade, though it’s deepened throughout elementary school, and getting it right matters because place value is the cornerstone of all …