Place Value Maths

This Tuesday we used calculators and ice-block sticks to investigate place value.

First of all we worked out how to make each digit from 0 to 9 as if it were on a calculator. We found out that the number 8 uses the most ice-block sticks, you need 7, and the number 7 and 9 have extra sticks that we didn't expect them to have.

Then we had to get 10 ice-block sticks each. We checked we had the right number by arranging our sticks into a tally chart.

Then the challenge was issued. 

Make the biggest number you can out of 10 ice-block sticks.

We learnt that to make a really big number you need to make as many digits as you can. Our biggest number was a 5-digit number. It contained all 1s. It was eleven thousand, one hundred and eleven. It was even bigger than four-digit numbers we made with a 7 in them.