Place value discs are great math manipulatives. As a Special Day Class teacher, my older students required the concrete nature of math manipulatives but shied away from base-ten blocks as those were “babyish” in their eyes. Enter place value discs. These provide a great representational bridge from concrete to abstract concepts. Students can model numbers, processes, touch them and use for counting. Purchasing them was beyond my teacher budget which always prefers free. So I made them on paper and laminated them for reuse. They stored quite nicely in medication containers for easy distribution, use, and clean-up.

But what about using them digitally? Using a combination of Google Drawing and Google Slides, it’s possible to create a digital version of place value discs with a place value mat for modeling numbers digitally. I recently shared this as an example of something that can be done with slides that isn’t a presentation at #cue16 and was surprised by the overwhelming response and interest that I have gotten regarding these.

So, here’s my Google Drive folder with whole number place value discs I created using Google Drawing along with a Place Value Template to get you started. Look for future posts with more math templates, place value tiles, and directions on how to create your own!