Year 6 · Place Value and Negative Numbers · Summary

Year 6 Place Value and Negative Numbers: summary and key words

Part of the Year 6 place value and negative numbers chapter. Chapter overview · whole chapter on one page

Chapter summary

Skill	Method
Place value	Each digit is worth its digit times its column value. Columns go ten times bigger from right to left: ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, millions, ten millions.
Reading and writing	Split the number into groups of three from the right. Read each group and say its name: million, thousand, or the ones group.
Comparing and ordering	Compare the digits from the left. The first column where the digits differ decides. Use < and > with the open end facing the bigger number.
Rounding	Find the two multiples either side of the number. Look at the digit after the rounding digit: 5 or more rounds up, less than 5 rounds down. Halfway rounds up.
Negative numbers	A negative number is less than zero. The bigger the number after the minus sign, the smaller the number. Count through zero when you cross it.
Intervals across zero	Opposite sides of zero: add the steps to zero from each number. Same side of zero: subtract the smaller distance from the bigger distance.
Problems	Find the numbers and the operation. “To the nearest” means round. “How many more” means subtract. Write the unit and check the answer makes sense.

I can read and write numbers up to 10,000,000 in figures and words.
I can find the value of any digit in a number up to 10,000,000.
I can compare and order numbers up to 10,000,000 using the signs < and >.
I can make the largest and smallest numbers from a set of digit cards.
I can round any whole number to the nearest 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000, 100,000 or 1,000,000.
I can order negative numbers and count through zero on a number line or thermometer.
I can work out the interval between two numbers, including numbers on opposite sides of zero.
I can solve number and practical problems using place value, rounding and negative numbers.

Digit: One of the symbols 0 to 9 used to write a number.
Column: The place a digit sits in, such as the hundreds or the ten thousands column.
Value: What a digit is worth. The value is the digit times the value of its column.
Period: A group of three columns, such as the thousands or the millions.
Ten million: The number 10,000,000. It has eight digits and seven zeros.
Round: Make a number simpler by writing it to the nearest 10, 100, 1,000 and so on.
Degree of accuracy: The place value a number is rounded to, such as the nearest 1,000.
Halfway: The number exactly in the middle of two multiples. Halfway rounds up.
Negative number: A number less than zero, written with a minus sign, such as −5.
Positive number: A number greater than zero.
Interval: The number of steps, or the difference, between two numbers on a number line.
Thermometer: A scale that shows temperature. Numbers below zero are shown with a minus sign.
Compare: Decide which of two numbers is bigger or smaller, using the signs < and >.
Digit card: A card with one digit on it, used to make numbers.