Tens and Ones in 34

Today we find out how many tens and how many ones are hiding inside the number thirty four! Here is thirty four shown with blocks: long rods for tens, and little cubes for ones. Let us look at the long rods first. Each rod is worth ten.

Count the rods with me: one, two, three. There are three tens. Each rod has ten little squares. So three rods make thirty.

• 3 tens

Now look at the small single cubes. Each cube is worth one. Count the cubes: one, two, three, four. There are four ones. Four ones make the number four.

• 4 ones

The digit three sits in the tens place, and the digit four sits in the ones place.

Now we put the tens and the ones together to build thirty four.

So thirty four has three tens and four ones. That is our answer! Let us check with a ten frame. Here are ten counters filling one whole frame. One full frame is one ten. Thirty four needs three full frames and four extra counters.

• 34 = 3 tens + 4 ones

Careful! A common mistake is saying the digit three means three ones. It really means three tens. Think of a shop that sells pencils in boxes of ten, with some loose pencils too. Three boxes and four loose pencils is thirty four pencils. Tens and ones are everywhere!

• 3 means 3 tens, not 3 ones!

Now try this one on your own. Look at the number forty seven. How many tens and ones are in forty seven? To remember: the first digit tells the tens, and the second digit tells the ones.

Great job! Thirty four is three tens and four ones.