Reading and Writing 3-digit Numbers

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1 Getting Started
2 Watch and Notice
3 Try It Together
4 Write Each Number Two Ways
5 Class Challenge
6 What Did We Notice?
7 What's Next
Pupil practice

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

If I say two hundred and sixteen, which digit do you write down first? Hands up: would you write the 2, the 1, or the 6 to start? And which side of the page does the first digit go on?

Teacher Notes

Take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. Write one number in digits (e.g. 216) and the same number in words on the IWB and ask the class to match them up. Keep this brisk — the building happens in the next step.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

Illustration for Watch and Notice

143

Watch as we build one hundred and forty-three with place-value blocks. The words tell us exactly which digits to write: one hundred, four tens, three units.

260

Now two hundred and sixty. Look at the units column — what do you notice sitting there? We say sixty, so a zero fills the units place.

408

This time four hundred and eight. Listen carefully: we say and eight with no tens at all, so a zero holds the tens place.

700

Last one: seven hundred exactly. No tens and no units to say, so two zeros hold those places.

Teacher Notes

Read each build aloud, one at a time, and write the words beneath the blocks.

143 — say each part in turn: one hundred, forty, three.
260 — point to the zero in the units; ask why we still need it even though we don't say it.
408 — the trickiest: and eight jumps straight from hundreds to units, so a zero holds the empty tens place.
700 — two silent zeros; ask the class what would change if we wrote just 7.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Try It Together ~7 mins

This is our number line, and it is new today. The big marks count up in hundreds: 0, 100, 200, all the way to 1,000. The smaller marks in between count in tens, so we can land exactly where a number belongs.

I will say a number in words, and one of you will drag the marker to it and read it back to us in digits. Everyone else: listen to the digits the pupil reads, then thumbs up if the words and digits match, or thumbs sideways if you would change something. We will try one hundred and fifty, three hundred and four, six hundred and ninety, and nine hundred and one.

Watch out

Remember four hundred and eight from the blocks: the zero held the empty tens place even though we never said it. Watch for that same hidden zero in three hundred and four and nine hundred and one.

Place the number said in words

Teacher Notes

This round is for talking it through together — pupils take turns at the board and the class agrees or corrects with thumbs.

The number line is new this lesson, so spend the first moment naming what the marks mean (hundreds on the big marks, tens on the small ones) before any placement. Say each number in words first, then let a pupil place the marker. After they read it back in digits, ask the class with a quick thumbs signal: do the words match the digits? Between placements, pose a fast question to the watching class — before our next pupil places it, where will the marker sit, near the start or near the end? — and take a hand-up answer to keep the back rows in it. Watch for the zero numbers — three hundred and four and nine hundred and one catch people out, because the spoken word jumps over the empty tens place. Revoice a strong answer: so the zero holds the tens place even though we don't say it.

+15 XP

4 - Write Each Number Two Ways ~2 mins

COPYBOOK MOMENT

In your maths copy, write each of these numbers twice — once in digits and once in words — lined up side by side. Then read each pair aloud to yourself.

Teacher Notes

Walk the room glancing at how the words are spelt and whether the digits match — this is whole-class copybook practice, not marking. Watch for pupils dropping the silent zero when they write the digits from the words.

+10 XP

5 - Class Challenge ~7 mins

New numbers this time, and a couple have hidden zeros we have not placed yet. Said in words: eight hundred and twenty-five, five hundred and six, four hundred and seventy, three hundred and nine. Place each one on the number line and check it before we move on.

Watch out

The zeros are where people slip, so we will say each one aloud first.

Place the number said in words

Teacher Notes

This round is the practice bank — pupils take turns at the board, check each answer, and the class confirms with thumbs before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

These are fresh targets, not a repeat of Try It Together. For each one, ask where do the zeros change how we say it? before the pupil places the marker. Five hundred and six and three hundred and nine are the high-ceiling ones — confirm the class can hear that the spoken word skips straight to the units, just like four hundred and eight did with the blocks.

+15 XP

6 - What Did We Notice? ~4 mins

MATHS TALK

How do the words tell you exactly which digits to write, and in which order? Where did a zero hide even though we never said it out loud?

Teacher Notes

Listen for pupils naming that the order of the words (hundreds first, then tens, then units) matches the order of the digits left to right. Revoice a strong answer: so when we hear 'and eight' with no tens, a zero has to step in to hold the tens place. Head off the slip of writing 48 for four hundred and eight.

+10 XP

7 - What's Next ~3 mins

Today we learned

Every three-digit number can be written in digits and in words, and the two must always match.
The words are said in order: hundreds, then tens, then units.
A zero holds a place even when we don't say it, like the tens in four hundred and eight.

Coming up

Next we will pull numbers apart into their hundreds, tens and units, and put them back together again.

Teacher Notes

Keep the close brisk. A quick whole-class read-back of 408 and 700 cements the silent-zero idea before pupils move to their activity-book page.

+5 XP

Pupil practice

Module 1 · Place Value: Whole Numbers to 1,000 and Rounding Number

Lesson 3 · Reading and Writing 3-digit Numbers

Download Activity Book page (PDF)

End of lesson

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Teacher Class Feed

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

143

260

408

700

3 - Try It Together ~7 mins

Place the number said in words

4 - Write Each Number Two Ways ~2 mins

5 - Class Challenge ~7 mins

Place the number said in words

6 - What Did We Notice? ~4 mins

7 - What's Next ~3 mins

Today we learned

Coming up

Unlock the full learning experience

XP