In this module, students expand their skill with and understanding of units by bundling ones, tens, and hundreds up to a thousand with straws. Unlike the length of 10 centimeters in Module 2, these bundles are discrete sets. One unit can be grabbed and counted just like a banana―1 hundred, 2 hundred, 3 hundred, etc. A number generally consists of three units: hundreds, tens, and ones. The bundled units are organized by separating them largest to smallest, ordered from left to right. Over the course of the module, instruction moves from physical bundles that show the proportionality of the units to non-proportional place value disks and to numerals on the place value chart.
Furthermore, in this module instruction includes a great deal of counting: by ones, tens, and hundreds. Counting up using the centimeter tape or a classroom number line shows movement from left to right as the numbers increase. Counting up on the place value chart shows movement from right to left as the numbers increase. For example, as 10 ones are renamed as 1 ten, the larger unit is housed in the place directly to the left. The goal is for students to move back and forth fluidly between these two models, the number line and the place value chart, using them to either to rename units and compare numbers.
In this module, the place value story has advanced. Along with changing 10 ones for 1 ten, students now also change 10 tens for 1 hundred. This changing leads to the use of counting strategies to solve word problems. In the next module, this change leads to mental math and the formal algorithms for addition and subtraction. Comparison extends into finding 100 more and 100 less, 10 more and 10 less, etc.