“Today we learned that when you represent numbers with base-ten blocks, diagrams, or expressions, the order of the hundreds, tens, and ones may not matter. These representations use the size of the blocks, different shapes, labels, words, and numbers to make it clear what units and values they show. We learned that when you represent numbers with digits in a three-digit number, the order of the digits is very important. The order, or place, of each digit shows others the amount of hundreds, tens, and ones.”
“Han says 5 tens + 4 ones + 7 hundreds = 547. What would you say to Han about his thinking?” (The number should be 754, because the 7 goes in the hundreds place. You have to make sure each digit in the three-digit number matches the value, you can’t just put them in the same order.)