Growing by Powers of Ten

Make multiplying by powers of ten more accessible to your students by focusing on patterns in the number of zeros!

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Learning Objectives

Students will be able to describe what happens to the size of a number as it is multiplied by powers of 10. Students will be able to explain patterns in the number of zeros of the product when multiplying by powers of 10.

Introduction

(5 minutes)

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Challenge Problems

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Growing by Powers of Ten Chart

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Practice Problems

To begin the lesson, activate students' prior knowledge by using base ten blocks to review powers of 10.
With the blocks, show a unit and ask what the value is. Write 1 on the board.
Show a rod and ask what the value is. Write 10 on the board.
Then, show a flat and ask what the value is. Write 100 on the board.
Last, show a cube and ask what the value is. Write 1000 on the board.
Ask students what would come after 1000. Write 10,000 on the board.
If appropriate for your students, go to 100,000 and 1,000,000.
Keep all of the numbers you wrote on the board for the next part of the lesson.