Math Story : 3 digit Place Value

One With The Tallest Building

The kids look excited. It looks like they are going somewhere? But where? 

“Hello! Uncle Math”, they wish together. Ohh! The kids are having a sleepover at Uncle Math’s house. Woohoo! It is going to be a fun-filled sleepover. 

As the kids take their places on beds, Uncle Math is set to tell them a beautiful bedtime story. “Kids! What is the tallest building you have seen?” he questions. “I saw a building with 2 floors”, says Cirha. “I saw a building with 5 floors”, says Squarho. 

“Once, there was a small town on one of the Math planets with only 9 members. All these nine members wanted to live together. Hence they started living in a small house with 9 rooms. They called this house Ones House. 

Seeing them so happy, soon, more people wanted to join them. “This is Ones House. Only 9 people can live here!” they said. What can they do now?” narrates Uncle Math. 

“They could build another house”, answers Cirho.“They could share their rooms with the people”, answers Triho. Uncle Math smiles and says “The rooms can’t be shared as each room has space for only one person. They tried building similar houses, but they faced the same problem again.” 

“After many errors and struggles, they reached out to me. I decided to help them by building another house with 9 floors such that each floor accommodates 10 people. I called this house Tens House”, says Uncle Math.

“Voila! Their problem was solved. They had ample space for many people now. They all were happy”, says Uncle Math. The kids are impressed. “You’re a genius”, says Cirha. 

When there were 43 people in total, they accommodated 40 on four floors of Tens house and 3 in Ones house.  But wait! Soon the Tens House started filling too. 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90. All nine floors were filled. “This is Tens House, only 9 tens can live here!” they said. They were in trouble again,” says Uncle Math. 

“Oh No! Did you build another house then?” predicts Cirho. “Haha! Yes! I decided to make another building, but a very large one this time. I called it Hundreds House. Can you guess how many people could live here?” questions Uncle Math. 

“How 10 people could live on each floor in Tens House, 100 people could live in Hundreds house, I guess!” predicts smart Triho. “Close call! Yes, the Hundreds House also had nine floors. But this time, each floor could accommodate 100 people”, explains Uncle Math. The kids are bewildered. “100 people on each floor! Wow! The house must be huge”, says Squarho. 

“Soon, the floors of Hundreds house started filling too. 100, 200, 300, 400! At one point, there were 519 people. Can you guess how they accommodated them all?” asks Uncle Math. 

“Oh, I know! They would have accommodated 500 people on five floors of Hundreds house, 10 people on one floor of Tens House and finally 9 people in Ones House”, answers Triho. 

“Perfect! They had enough space to accommodate many more people now. They all were finally happy!” continues Uncle Math. “You always are so helpful Uncle Math. So nice!” says Cirha. Uncle Math smiles.

“One more story please, Uncle Math”, kids say. “No, no! It is late already. It’s time to sleep”, he says and switches off the lights.  “Ones, Tens and Hundreds of dreams everyone!” they wish altogether.  

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We Learnt That…

• Ones House can accommodate 9 ones.
• Tens House can accommodate 9 tens. 
• Hundreds House can accommodate 9 hundreds.
• Always be helpful in time of need.

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Let’s Discuss

• Where were we going today?
• What was special about the Ones House?
• What was special about the Tens House?
• What was special about the Hundreds House?
• Uncle Math always helps people in need. What kind of person is he?
• Have you been helpful anytime? Explain.

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• Place Value