DragonLand Blue | Quest 01 | Grade 3 Place Value

The Ten-Thousand Tower

Accessible text edition. Academic focus: read, build, compare, order, and round whole numbers to 10,000.

The tower has gone dark

At sunrise, the baby dragon reached the Ten-Thousand Tower. Its number stones had fallen out of place, and the map home had disappeared.

Hundreds, tens, and ones were scattered near the gate. The dragon needs a place-value guide. Help return every number stone to its proper place. When the last beacon shines, the first path through DragonLand Blue will open.

Worked examples

In 6,482, the digit 4 is in the hundreds place, so its value is 400. Expanded form is 6,000 + 400 + 80 + 2.

Compare 4,918 and 4,891. The thousands digits tie. The hundreds digits are 9 and 8. Since 9 is greater than 8, 4,918 is greater than 4,891.

Round 8,647 to the nearest hundred. The tens digit is 4, so keep 6 hundreds and change tens and ones to zero: 8,600.

Tower activities

  1. In 6,482, what is the value of the digit 4?

  2. Write 7,305 in expanded form.

  3. Write 4,072 in word form.

  4. Build the number: 5 thousands, 8 hundreds, 0 tens, and 6 ones.

  5. Write <, >, or = : 4,918 ___ 4,891

  6. Which is greatest: 3,842; 3,482; or 3,824?

  7. Order from least to greatest: 6,109; 6,901; 6,190.

  8. Round 8,647 to the nearest hundred.

  9. Round 3,451 to the nearest ten.

  10. Round 7,550 to the nearest thousand.

  11. A beacon shows 9,204. What is the value of the digit 9?

  12. Write 2,000 + 600 + 40 + 7 in standard form.

  13. A tower has 4,398 stones. Is that closer to 4,000 or 5,000?

  14. Choose the larger number: 7,090 or 7,900. Explain using place value.

  15. Create a number greater than 6,500 but less than 6,600.

  16. The final code is 8 thousands, 3 hundreds, 4 tens, and 2 ones. Write it in standard and expanded form.

  17. Compare the final code with 8,324 using <, >, or =.

  18. Round the final code 8,342 to the nearest hundred.

Answer key

  1. Q1: 400
  2. Q2: 7,000 + 300 + 5
  3. Q3: four thousand seventy-two
  4. Q4: 5,806
  5. Q5: >
  6. Q6: 3,842
  7. Q7: 6,109; 6,190; 6,901
  8. Q8: 8,600
  9. Q9: 3,450
  10. Q10: 8,000
  11. Q11: 9,000
  12. Q12: 2,647
  13. Q13: 4,000
  14. Q14: 7,900; the hundreds digit 9 is greater than 0 after the thousands digits tie.
  15. Q15: Answers vary; any whole number from 6,501 through 6,599.
  16. Q16: 8,342; 8,000 + 300 + 40 + 2
  17. Q17: 8,342 > 8,324
  18. Q18: 8,300