Expanded Form Teaching Resources
Download expanded form teaching resources designed to make math more fun this school year and make your math centers easier to plan! Every resource on the Teach Starter website has been created by an expert teacher and reviewed by another team of expert teachers to ensure they’re ready for your classroom and your students.
Get students thinking about how large numbers can be broken down into individual place values and better understand their value with resources aligned with Common Core math.
New to teaching this section of the math curriculum, or just looking for some tips on engaging your students? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including an explanation of what expanded form is, how it helps kids break down multi-digit whole numbers and how it relates to place value.
What Is Expanded Form? A Kid-Friendly Definition
Let's start with a student-friendly way to introduce expanded form to your math class! Here's a definition our maths teachers use in the classroom:
Expanded form is a way of representing a number as the sum of its place values by breaking the number down into its individual parts. Writing a number in this form shows the value of each digit in the number.
Expanded Form Examples — How to Write Numbers in Expanded Form
A definition is helpful, but how do you make this concept more concrete for your young learners and help them understand how to write numbers in this format themselves? Expanded form examples, of course!
Let's take the number 345. When we break it down, this number has:
- A 3 in the hundreds place
- A 4 in the tens place
- A 5 in the ones place
To write the number 345 in expanded form, we would create an addition problem:
300 + 40 + 5
If you add these three numbers back together, you will end up with 345!
Teaching Expanded Form
Expanded form activities are often pulled out in the first few weeks of the school year, but you might consider adding these to your math centers all year for a few reasons!
- It helps younger math students understand the value of zeros in those longer three- and four-digit numbers.
- It helps students understand how the digits 0, 1, and 2 form multi-digit numbers.
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Expanded Form Poster Set
Teach students what it looks like to expand 2-digit, 3-digit, 4-digit, 5-digit and 6-digit numbers with this set of classroom posters.
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Roll and Expand Numbers Worksheet Pack
Explore place value with your students using this set of leveled expanding numbers worksheets.
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Thousands Place Value Number Expander Template
Explore expanding 4 digit numbers with your students using this number expander template.
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Hundreds Place Value Number Expander Template
A resource to help reinforce place value and writing 3-digit numbers in expanded form.
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2-Digit and 3-Digit Expanded Form Interactive Activity
Use this interactive activity with your students to practice expanded form through to the hundreds place.
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2-Digit Number of the Day - Spiral Review
Review a variety of second-grade math concepts with a Number of the Day slide deck and recording sheet.
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Exploring 2-Digit Place Value - Teaching Slides
Explore 2-digit numbers using place value strategies with an interactive teaching presentation.
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2-Digit Place Value Game - Interactive Slide Deck
Review various first- and second-grade place value concepts with an interactive daily place value warmup.
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Place Value Cacti - 3-Digit Expanded Form Activity
A fun place value activity for students to play in the classroom when exploring 3-digit numbers and expanded forms.
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Place Value Penguin - Spreadsheet Pixel Art Activity
Practice identifying numbers in word form, expanded form, and standard form with a fun spreadsheet pixel art activity.
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Number, Word, and Base Ten Forms - St. Patrick's Day Activity
Have some fun matching number, word, and base-ten forms with a fun St. Patrick's Day activity.
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Valentine's Day - Number Form Match-Up
Identify three-digit numbers in standard form, word form, expanded form, and in base-ten form with a printable Valentine’s Day Math activity.
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Expanded Form Dominoes (2-Digit Numbers)
Use this set of dominoes when learning how to match 2-digit numbers written in standard form and expanded form.
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Expanded Form Dominoes (3-Digit Numbers)
Use this set of dominoes when learning how to match 3-digit numbers written in standard form and expanded form.
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Expanded Form Dominoes (4-Digit Numbers)
Use this set of dominoes when learning how to match 4-digit numbers written in standard form and expanded form.
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Expanded Form Dominoes (5-Digit Numbers)
Use this set of dominoes when learning how to match 5-digit numbers written in standard form and expanded form.
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Three and Four-Digit Place Value Memory Game
Practice matching numbers in standard form, expanded form, and word form with this memory-style place value game.
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Place Value Worksheets (Platypus Theme)
Practice writing numbers in standard form, expanded form, and word form with this differentiated worksheet.
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Number Forms Worksheet
Help students practice recognizing and writing numbers in word form and expanded form with this worksheet.
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How to Write 2-Digit and 3-Digit Numbers Worksheet
Explore how to represent number values in standard form, word form, expanded form, and picture form with this multipurpose place value worksheet.
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Number Talks - Number Sense Task Cards
Build number sense skills with this set of 24 task cards.
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Expanded Notation Puzzles - Whole Numbers
Practice whole number expanded notation with this 28-piece matching puzzle.
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Number Talks - Building Numbers Task Cards
Build number sense skills with this set of 24 task cards.
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Number Talks - Place Value Task Cards
Build number sense skills with this set of 24 task cards.
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Number Talks - Near, Far, and in Between Task Cards
Build number sense skills with this set of 24 task cards.
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Number Talks - Place Value Task Cards
Build number sense skills with this set of 32 place value task cards.
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3-Digit Number Forms Worksheet
Help students practice their knowledge of 3-digit numbers with this place value worksheet that covers base ten blocks, standard form, and expanded form.
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Number Forms Worksheet
A fill-in-the-blank worksheet for your students to practice putting 3-digit numbers in standard form, expanded form, and written form.
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Place Value Work Mat
Practice place value concepts with this work mat for students.
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Flip, Draw, Expand! – Place Value Worksheet (5-Digit Numbers)
A worksheet to use when practicing place value with 5-digit numbers.
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Flip, Draw, Expand! – Place Value Worksheet (3-Digit Numbers)
A worksheet to use when practicing place value with 3-digit numbers.
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Flip, Draw, Expand! - Place Value Worksheet (2-Digit Numbers)
A worksheet to use when reviewing 2-digit place value.