P1 Place Value: Tens and Ones, Compare and Order

Ten little orange cubes sit loose on a mat. One by one, they slide into a single column, and the column turns into a blue rod with a "10" tag beside it. "Ten cubes snap together. That makes 1 ten!"

That is Tens and Ones, a 30-second Primary 1 episode of our Topic Explainers series. It is made for your child to watch, with very simple words on screen and no voice-over. Watch it together first, then read on.

Tens and Ones: see the tens, count the ones.

After the ten cubes snap together, the video builds 34 from 3 rods and 4 cubes. Then it counts on in tens, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and adds 2 cubes to make 62. Next it asks which is more, 34 or 43. Last, it puts 62, 34 and 43 in order from smallest to greatest.

This is Primary 1 Numbers up to 100 in the Singapore syllabus: counting, place value in tens and ones, and comparing and ordering numbers.

The method

Place value rests on one big idea, and the video's hook says it: ten ones make one ten.

Once ten single cubes become one rod, a child can count big amounts quickly. Instead of counting 34 cubes one by one, they count 3 rods (10, 20, 30) and then 4 cubes (31, 32, 33, 34).

Tens and ones in a 2-digit number

In a number like 34, each digit has a job.

Tens	Ones
3	4

The 3 is in the tens place, so it means 3 tens, or 30. The 4 is in the ones place, so it means 4 ones. Together, 30 + 4 = 34.

The same digit can mean different amounts. The 3 in 34 is worth 30, but the 3 in 43 is worth only 3. Where a digit sits decides what it is worth.

Counting on in tens

To count a pile of rods and cubes, count the rods first in tens, then count on the cubes in ones. Six rods and two cubes: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, then 61, 62.

Comparing and ordering

To compare two numbers, look at the tens first. The number with more tens is greater. If the tens are the same, then look at the ones.

To put numbers in order, compare them two at a time and line them up from smallest to greatest (or greatest to smallest, if the question asks for that).

Worked examples

All the numbers below are the ones in the video, except the try-at-home questions at the end.

Example 1: Build 34

Here are 3 tens and 4 ones. What number do they make?

Step 1: Count the tens. 3 rods: 10, 20, 30.

Step 2: Count on the ones. 4 cubes: 31, 32, 33, 34.

Step 3: Write it in a place-value chart. 3 under Tens, 4 under Ones.

Answer: 3 tens and 4 ones make 34.

Ask your child to say it both ways: "thirty-four" and "3 tens and 4 ones". Being able to switch between the two is what place value is all about.

Example 2: Count on to 62

6 rods and 2 cubes. How many cubes in all?

Step 1: Count the rods in tens. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60.

Step 2: Count on the cubes in ones. 61, 62.

Answer: 6 tens and 2 ones make 62.

Notice that counting the rods only changes the tens digit (10, 20, 30, and so on), and counting the cubes only changes the ones digit (61, 62). That is a lovely pattern to point out.

Example 3: Which is more, 34 or 43?

Which is more, 34 or 43?

Step 1: Look at the tens. 34 has 3 tens. 43 has 4 tens.

Step 2: Compare the tens. 4 tens is more than 3 tens.

Answer: 43 is more. It does not matter that 34 has more ones, because one more ten is worth more than all the ones in 34.

This is the trickiest moment in the video, because both numbers use the same two digits, 3 and 4. Only their places are different, and the places decide.

Example 4: Put 62, 34 and 43 in order

Put 62, 34 and 43 in order, from smallest to greatest.

Step 1: Look at all the tens. 62 has 6 tens, 34 has 3 tens, 43 has 4 tens.

Step 2: Line them up by their tens. 3 tens, then 4 tens, then 6 tens.

Answer: smallest to greatest, 34, 43, 62.

Try these at home

Which is more, 57 or 52?

Both have 5 tens, so the tens do not decide. Look at the ones: 7 ones is more than 2 ones, so 57 is more.

Put 80, 18 and 81 in order, from smallest to greatest.

18 has 1 ten, so it is the smallest. 80 and 81 both have 8 tens, so look at the ones: 0 ones is less than 1 one. The order is 18, 80, 81.

What number is 7 tens and 0 ones?

7 tens is 70, and there are no ones, so the number is 70. The zero tells us the ones place is empty.

Common mistakes

Counting a rod as 1. "3 rods and 4 cubes is 7." Ask, "How many cubes are in one rod?" Then count the rods in tens.
Writing the number as it sounds. "Thirty-four" written as 304, because the child writes 30 and then 4. Show 34 in the place-value chart: 3 in the tens column, 4 in the ones column, and nothing else.
Comparing the ones first. "34 is more than 43, because 4 is more than 3." Always look at the tens first.
Mixing up the teens. 13 and 31 sound alike, and "thirteen" says the 3 first even though it is 1 ten and 3 ones. Build both with rods and cubes and put them side by side.
Losing count after the rods. After 60, some children keep counting in tens: 70, 80 for the two cubes. Remind them that each cube is just one more.
Leaving out the zero. Writing 7 for "7 tens and 0 ones". The zero holds the ones place, so 70 needs both digits.

Parent tips

Make your own tens. Use ice-cream sticks, straws or toothpicks. Count out ten and wrap them with a rubber band to make one ten. Build numbers from bundles and loose sticks, and let your child tell you the number.
Snap ten. If you have building bricks, snap ten together into a tower. Build a number with towers and single bricks, then swap: you say a number, your child builds it.
Who has more? Write two numbers on cards, such as 46 and 64. Your child builds both, then points to the one with more tens.
Line them up. Write three numbers on cards and ask your child to put them in order from smallest to greatest. Then mix them up and ask for greatest to smallest.
Say it as tens and ones. On a walk or at the shops, read numbers aloud together: "Bus 52. That's 5 tens and 2 ones."

Keep each game to a few minutes and stop while it is still fun. Real objects come first, then pictures, then written numbers: the concrete, pictorial, abstract order of Singapore math teaching. Our P1 math readiness checklist shows where numbers to 100 sit in the year, and Primary 1 sample questions explained walks through more P1 examples.

Calm practice, a few questions at a time

Place value is the foundation of almost everything that comes next in Primary math: adding and taking away within 100, money, and later, bigger numbers. Like everything else at this age, it settles in through short, happy practice, not long sessions.

That is how we built Singapore Math Drills. Practice is calm by design: no guilt-tripping over a missed day and no dark patterns, and your child's progress is only ever measured against their own. Our free sample has real practice questions for every Primary level, with no login and no download. See the tens. Count the ones.

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Try a free interactive Primary 1 worksheet and see how calm practice feels, with no signup or credit card required.

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