The two digits of a two-digit number
Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones
Lesson
Set out your lesson
Represent digits as tens and ones, including zero ones.
Before teaching
Readiness
Show ten ones. Name the group and show fifteen as a ten and ones. Response: __________________
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Teaching approaches
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1 approach
Represent digits as tens and ones, including zero ones.
Represent digits as tens and ones, including zero ones.
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Learning resources
Extra practice links — they do not replace Gakuva’s teaching approach.
Illustrative Mathematics · Practice link — not the full lesson
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Before you open · source notes
Story totals from Eric Carle’s caterpillar week are regrouped as tens and ones. Use it to talk about the two digits of a two-digit number. An adult may read the story context.
Free, no sign-in. A teacher solution is on the same page, so use the student view with your child.
Before you openAsk which digit shows tens and which shows ones for one daily total. Keep any solution section for the adult.
Opening this link does not save learning or assess mastery.
Source, access and review notes
Public Illustrative Mathematics task page. The .html address responds HTTP 308 to this URL. An anonymous GET of this URL on 2026-11-11 returned HTTP 200 with no login or payment prompt. Where a teacher solution is present, it is on the same page as the student task; this check did not find a separate locked student view. An adult can use the student view section and should not read a solution aloud. Advertising was not observed in the fetched HTML text; that is not a browser, device, or ad-free guarantee. This is a paper or discussion task, not an automatically marked interactive game. Opening the link does not save practice or assess mastery. Diagrams on the page use missing or filename-only alt text, so they are not an accessible image equivalent. Accessibility still depends on an adult describing the picture.
Illustrative Mathematics. “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” Licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. External task; Gakuva does not copy, host, embed, or redistribute it.
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — link only
Check understanding
- Explain that in 47, the 4 represents 4 tens (40) and the 7 represents 7 ones
- Use base-ten blocks to show a two-digit number as tens and ones
- Identify the tens digit and ones digit in any two-digit number
“If your child sees the number 47, can they tell you there are 4 tens (forty) and 7 ones — rather than just reading the digits as 'four seven'?”
Curriculum record
- Type
- Conceptual
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Domain
- Number Representation & Place Value
- Age range
- Ages 3–8
Standards