Books for Teaching Place Value in the Elementary Classroom

Most of my career, I've worked in the primary grades setting. Even the few years I worked in an upper grade classroom, I still tried to use as many math read alouds as possible.  I wanted to share a few of my favorite read alouds that I've used during my place value units. The best part is, I've used all of these books in a variety of grade levels! So let's chat about books for teaching place value! 

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Here are Three Books for Teaching Place Value in the Elementary Classroom

What's The Place Value?

This is a really easy reader. The book is really more appropriate to read to a Kindergarten or First Grade class.  I use this as my first book to introduce place value. I've used in in K-2. It's perfect in 2nd as a review of the skills students have already learned.
After reading this book, I put it back into my math bin. 

A Million Fish More or Less

This is an excellent book to teach place value skills and give students real word application. It's a bit of a stretch for students to imagine or visualize a 500 lb turkey, but it gives them the opportunity to do that! I always tie visualization in with this story. This book is also very humorous so I've been able to use it with a variety of grade levels. I've read this book to my students in 2nd- 4th grade. Also, it allows children to start to picture numbers outside of a math worksheet.  My students loved the characters and the twists throughout the story. This is a MUST have for your classroom!

Billions of Bricks

This is a great book for the students who are beginning to develop a sense of numbers. I enjoy reading this book to my Kindergarten- Second Grade students. The author does a great job of showing different counting patterns throughout the story. I love picking books that relates to different children. For me, my reluctant readers always enjoy this book!

Sir Cumference and All The Kings Tens

In this book, students get exposure to counting by tens, hundreds and thousands. Throughout this creative and fun story, students learn about grouping and how numbers work together. I use this book as a preview to our place value lesson and sometimes at the end of my lesson. I find that this series of books relates to most kids. Even my students who are not excited about reading, get excited about these books!



After our math read aloud, we go into a quick mini lesson on the skill or our math centers. I wanted to share some of my favorite math centers  for place value that we've used this year! These centers range from 1st to 4th grade!

Math read alouds are so important to developing a strong mathematical foundation and it never hurts to read to children more! I hope these books for teaching place value help you in your classroom!

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Five Must Have Picture Books

As we prepare to go back to school, I wanted to share five must have picture books that you need to add to your classroom library TODAY! These books are not only great for teaching rules and procedures, but creating a classroom community. Creating a group of students that willingly turn into a family. You see, that's the big picture in education that we NEED to have happen. Our classroom culture is shifting. Now more than ever, we need that sense of community. Students need to feel safe, loved and wanted. 

Five Must Have Picture Books

This story is perfect for the beginning of school when we are learning how to trust each other and lean on each other. In the story, Brave Enough For Two, the characters learn how to trust and help each other through difficult times. I 

In this book, The Jelly Donut Difference, the author Maria Dismondy does an excellent job telling a story about kindness and how we should treat each other. This is a great book to use the first week of school to model for children how we should treat each other. The book is rich in vocabulary and life lessons. The author even includes question examples for teachers or parents.

In this story, Designed to Be Different, the author tells a story of a child who is bullied. The children have a talent show and they create lyrics to a song. This part will just pull at your heart strings that we actually have children that feel the same way this character feels. The story does reference how "God made us different".  No matter what type of school you have, it's a story that should be told. I love the backstory to it as well. See, not all books are written by famous authors. This story was written by my former custodian. He is one of the hardest workers I've ever met and ALWAYS helped me out. He works several jobs and put himself through film school. I don't know what else you could need to buy, a book that is diverse and supports the little man. 

The Recess Queen is another back to school MUST READ.  This is a great book about teaching rules and procedures for recess. I love how the story is so easy for students to make connections to. Even the first week, I discuss how good readers make connections to the story they read. These read alouds are not just for helping children learn how to act, they are also great ways to start introducing students to the reading standards you will address throughout the school year. 

The story is not just for going over recess rules though. We can talk about kindness, how to treat one another and how we should look for people to invite to hang out with us. 

I love to read Enemy Pie at the beginning of the school year and then again throughout the year. It's a great story about friendship, judgement and how to become friends with someone that you might not normally be friends with. The best part is, the story has SO many reading skills embedded into it! 

Please let me know how these books work for your students!  These five must have picture books have been an amazing additions to my classroom library! You can follow along on my IG page for more recommendations on picture books!





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