Year 5 Teaching Sequence 1 – Place value (three days)
Prerequisites:
 Understand place value of four-digit numbers (see oral and mental starter bank 1)
 Find 1, 10, 100, 1000 more/less than four-digit numbers (see oral and mental starter bank 1)
 Count on and back in 1s, 10s, 100s and 1000s from four-digit numbers to add and subtract (see oral and mental
starter bank 1)
Overview of progression:
Children use place value charts to help them to make five- and six-digit numbers, learning the value of each digit. Using this
knowledge, they add and subtract multiples of 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10,000 and 100,000. They use their knowledge of place value
to order five- and six-digit numbers in the context of a game.
Note that children become familiar with large numbers in Year 5 before they are asked to calculate with them in Year 6.
Once children understand place value up to six-digit numbers, they should be able to apply this to even larger numbers as
and when required. The teaching should therefore focus on ensuring a really in-depth understanding of place value.
Watch out for children who are unsure of where to place commas (or spaces) in five- and six-digit numbers as this can
hinder their reading of these numbers.
Watch out for children who still find the concept of zero as a place holder difficult, and therefore have trouble reading
numbers such as 498,003 or 306,092.
© Original teaching sequence copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
Y5 Maths TS1 – Aut – 3days
Objectives:
 Know what each digit represents in five- and six-digit numbers
Whole class
Group activities
Paired/indiv practice
Resources
Make a vertical place value chart:
100,000 10,000 1000 100 10 1
200,000 20,000 2000 200 20 2
300,000 30,000 3000 300 30 3
etc.
Cover the first column to begin with. Point to
one number from each column and ask chn to
write the five-digit number that they make on
their whiteboards. Include five-digit numbers
made from three or four cards such as 40,156,
40,306 and 43,150.
Repeat with six-digit numbers.
Write 43,561 on your whiteboards. What is
43,561 subtract 3000? Which digit will
change? Now subtract 500. What are we left
with? Now subtract 61. What are we left
with? Now add 4, what do we have now? And
now add 210.
Repeat adding and subtracting parts of fivethen six-digit numbers.
Write 230,567 on the board and enter it into
an IWB calculator (or an OHP calculator).
We’re going to add and subtract multiples of
100,000, 10,000, 1000, 100, 10 and 1 to make
all the digits the same, four, so the new
Group of 4-5 children
Write 50,555 on the flipchart. I want
to make all five digits the same (5), just
by adding one number. How could I do
this? What could I add?
What if I started with 55,505? Or
50,555? 55,000? 50,500? 50,505?
50,550?
Repeat with other five-, then six-digit
numbers, trying to make all the digits
the same, giving more practice at
changing two digits at once.
Easier: Just change one digit at a time,
e.g. adding 5, 50, 500 or 5000 rather
than 5500, 5050 or 5005 for example.
Ask chn to use their knowledge of
place value to complete number
sentences (see resources).
Easier: Ask chn to make a five-digit
number and then to write an addition
sentence such as 40,000 + 2000 +
300 + 50 + 6 = 42,356. Repeat with
two other five-digit numbers and
then three six-digit numbers.
 Place value
chart
 Activity
sheet of
place value
number
sentences
to complete
Group of 4-5 children
Write the number 45,462 on the
flipchart. What is the number that is 1
more? Write it on your whiteboards. 10
more? 100 more? 1000 more? 10,000
Chn work in pairs to create 5-digit
numbers. They discuss how they can
change each digit to a 5. They test
their ideas on the calculator and
record the corresponding
 IWB/OHP
calculator
 Calculators
© Original teaching sequence copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
Y5 Maths TS1 – Aut – 3days
number will be 444,444. Write this on the
board.
How can we make the first digit change to 4?
What do we need to add? Test out chn’s ideas,
before agreeing that 200,000 needs to be
added. Repeat with each digit. How do we
change the 0 to a 4? What does the zero tell
us we have none of? We have no 1000s. We
have 10,000 and 100,000 but not 1000. How
much do we need to add?
Repeat with 823,712 and 902,836.
more? Repeat with 45,895. Count in 10s
through 45,900 and in 100s through
46,000.
Repeat finding 1, 10, 100 and 1000 less
than five-digit numbers.
Repeat with 452,645 and 458,795,
counting in 1s, 10s, 100s, 1000s and
10,000s through the next boundaries.
Repeat finding 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10,000
less than six-digit numbers.
Easier: Use the calculator’s constant
function to repeatedly add 1, 10, 100
and 1000 to five-digit numbers, asking
chn to predict the next number each
time. Repeat to repeatedly subtract 1,
10, 100 and 1000. (The function varies
from calculator to calculator but is
often + + 10 = and then press the =key
repeatedly to repeatedly add 10 for
example.)
Repeat this item adding/subtracting 1,
10, 100, 1000 and 10,000 to/from sixdigit numbers.
subtractions/additions for each
stage, e.g. 34,567 + 20,000 = 54,567.
Repeat, this time choosing a digit of
their own choice.
Repeat with six-digit numbers.
Easier: Chn work in pairs to make up
five- then six-digit numbers. They
discuss how they can change one digit
to a 0, and the same to the other
digits in the original number, testing
out their ideas on the calculator and
recording the corresponding
subtractions for each number, e.g.
41,356 – 40,000 = 1,356
41,356 – 1,000 = 40,356
41,356 – 300 = 41,056
41,356 – 50 = 41,306
41,356 – 6 = 41,350.
Harder: After the first number, chn
work out what single number needs to
be added and the single number to be
subtracted, e.g. for 34,567 add
21,000 and subtract 12.
Draw a five-cell box on the board. We’re going
to put digits in each box to make the largest
five-digit number we can. This is the ten
thousands place, this is the thousands place,
this is the hundreds, this is the tens and this
Group of 4-5 children
Give each child a copy of a place value
chart (see resources) and six counters.
Place your counters, one in each column
to make a six-digit number greater than
Chn draw a five-cell box in which they
are going to try and write the biggest
five-digit number that they can:
They take it in turns to roll a 0-9
© Original teaching sequence copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
 Digit cards
 01,000,000
landmarked
line
Y5 Maths TS1 – Aut – 3days
is the ones, or units. Shuffle a pack of 0-9
digit cards, and draw out one card, e.g. 7.
Where shall we put this digit? Take
suggestions, and reach a consensus, e.g. the
hundreds place. Draw out another card, e.g. 1.
Oh that’s easy! Draw another card, e.g. 6. Mm,
shall we put it in the thousands place or the
tens place? Reach a consensus, e.g. thousands
place and draw the next card, e.g. 8. Mm, shall
we put it in the ten thousands place or the
thousands place? Reach a consensus, e.g. the
ten thousands and then draw the last card, e.g.
9. Oh, we want that for the ten thousands
place, but we’ve already filled it! Write the
biggest possible number we could have made on
your whiteboards.
Play again, but this time trying to make the
smallest number you can.
Repeat this time making six-digit numbers.
Play again this time trying to make the number
nearest to 500,000 that you can, marking the
resulting number and on a 0-1,000,000
landmarked line. Is there a number we could
have made that would have been closer?
half a million. How can we write half a
million? Make a number less than
200,000. Make a number between
400,000 and 500,000. Make the
smallest six-digit number you can. Now
the largest!
Now make the number closest to
600,000 that you can. Discuss how
599,999 is closer to 600,000 than
611,111 if chn have made 611,111. Now
make the number that is between
500,000 and 600,000 but as far away
from 600,000 as possible!
Repeat asking similar questions.
Easier: Display a landmarked line to
help, and focus more on the earlier sort
of questions.
Harder: After a while, encourage chn to
make up their own similar questions.
dice. They decide where to write this
digit in their box after each dice roll.
They will need to make difficult
decisions such as if they roll an 8 do
they put this in the ten thousands
place or thousands in case they roll a
9 on the next go?! Afterwards they
write the largest number they could
have made if they had known all five
digits in advance.
Repeat, this time trying to make the
smallest five-digit number that they
can (this means they cannot put the 0
in the ten thousands place).
Repeat this time with a six-cell box.
Harder: They have one game trying to
make the largest number they can,
one making the smallest that they can
with a six-cell box. They then try and
make a number as close to 555,555 as
they can.
© Original teaching sequence copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
(100,000s
labelled)
 Place value
charts (see
resources)
 Counters
 0-9 dice
Y5 Maths TS1 – Aut – 3days