8 Books for Teaching Place Value

Second grade is the perfect time to learn place value. Teaching place value helps students understand what a number is worth and positions of numbers in ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, and more! Understanding the values of numbers helps students learn basic math skills, number sense, and the value of money. Check out these place value books for second grade to teach your students about the values of numbers!

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How Much is a Million

This beautifully illustrated book gives students concrete examples of just how large a million, a billion, and even a trillion really are. How Much is a Million takes a difficult, abstract concept and makes it tangible for students of all ages. Information in the back of the book explains how the author came up with each example and helps the teacher extend the content to strengthen students’ understanding.

Place Value

Who better to explain the importance of place value than a few cute monkeys who own a banana cafe? Along with demonstrating the difference between numbers such as 9,347 and 7,493, this book compares the placement of digits in a number to the placement of letters in a word. It’s a unique but helpful comparison. CAT is not the same as ACT just as 329 is not the same as 239.

A Million Dots

With more than 40 fun facts, author Andrew Clements demonstrates one million with several different size comparisons using everyday objects. Ever wonder how many shoe boxes would need to be stacked to reach the height of Mount Everest? Wonder no more thanks to A Million Dots!

Earth Day, Hooray!

Young students are working on cleaning up a park and set a goal of recycling enough aluminum cans to be able to purchase flowers for the park. With information about place value and lessons on caring for the earth, this dual purpose book would be a great addition to any elementary classroom. An activity guide is included at the end of the book.

Penguin Place Value: A Math Adventure

This adorable rhyming story tells the tale of the penguin family and their fishing adventures. As the penguins catch fish to sell in their store, they learn the importance and helpfulness of place value. As a bonus, the story’s rhythm can be good fluency practice for students.

Zero the Hero

Whimsical illustrations and the confident main character Zero the Hero make this place value book as charming as can be. With patience and persistence, Zero shows the other numerical characters that he is much more than nothing; zero can add lots of value depending on its place value.

Sir Cumference and All the King’s Tens

The humorous Sir Cumference series takes on place value as a huge crowd gathers for the king’s birthday. With such a large crowd, the castle workers need a system to count the guests so that enough food is prepared for the feast. See how they use place value to make the large numbers more manageable.

The Math Tales of Mathias: Value City

This newly published book is the first in a series from Dr. Marco Walder. Help Mathias work his way through Value City as he, and your students, learn that digits can have different values based on where they are placed in a number. You will find a fun-filled short story to begin with along with multiple worksheets inside the book.

Enjoy these incredible place value books for second grade to teach your kids the value of numbers in creative and engaging ways!

If you are looking for more math books about other concepts, I’ve shared others in my math books category!