🔢 Numbers 📚 Grade 3 ⏱ 7 min
Numbers to 1000: Place Value for Grade 3
The number 347 means three hundreds, four tens and seven ones. Moving to three-digit numbers adds one rank to the already familiar place value system.
From two-digit to three-digit
In grades 1-2 the child mastered tens and ones. Three-digit numbers add hundreds — a rank above tens. The logic stays the same, just one level higher. Ten bundles of ten make one hundred.
💡 Three boxes: label them "hundreds," "tens," "ones." The child sorts digit cards into the boxes and reads the number. 3 in hundreds, 4 in tens, 7 in ones — the number is 347.
Building numbers to 1000
Place value breakdown:
723 = 7 hundreds + 2 tens + 3 ones
500 = 5 hundreds + 0 tens + 0 ones (zeros hold the place!)
108 = 1 hundred + 0 tens + 8 ones
723 = 7 hundreds + 2 tens + 3 ones
500 = 5 hundreds + 0 tens + 0 ones (zeros hold the place!)
108 = 1 hundred + 0 tens + 8 ones
The hundreds row
100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000. The child counts in hundreds the same way they once counted in tens. The row locks in during one session.
Comparing three-digit numbers
Lead with the highest rank
Different hundreds — the larger hundred wins: 547 > 389 because 5 hundreds beat 3. Same hundreds — compare tens. Same tens — compare ones.
Practice:
427 or 531? (531) · 612 or 618? (618) · 300 or 299? (300)
427 or 531? (531) · 612 or 618? (618) · 300 or 299? (300)
Three-digit numbers in real life
- Store prices: $3.49 — three hundreds, four tens, nine ones
- Distances: 250 miles to grandma
- Height: 127 cm — one hundred twenty-seven
🔢 Hundreds rest on tens!
Our game locks in numbers to 20 — the foundation for three-digit numbers.
▶ Play free