Decimal Place Value Chart
Decimals are just place value continuing to the right, past a dot. This chart runs from hundred thousands down to thousandths in one strip, works through 42.607 as an example, and shows the sentence you say when you read a decimal out loud. Print it for grade 4 and 5.
Decimal Place Value Chart — 42.607
| hundred thousands | ten thousands | thousands | hundreds | tens | ones | . | tenths | hundredths | thousandths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2 | . | 6 | 0 | 7 |
Click any digit to see what it is worth.
The decimal point does not end the pattern — it marks it
Everything to the left of the decimal point follows the rule you already know: each place is ten times the place to its right. The decimal point simply announces that the rule keeps going in the other direction: each place to its right is one tenth of the place to its left. Tenths, hundredths, thousandths — the columns march on, just divided by ten each step instead of multiplied.
Reading decimals trips people up until they learn the trick: read the whole-number part normally, say "and" for the decimal point, then read the decimal digits as if they were a whole number and name the final column. 42.607 becomes "forty-two and six hundred seven thousandths." Reserving "and" for the decimal point (instead of saying it inside big whole numbers) is the habit that makes this foolproof.
Teaching tips
Anchor tenths and hundredths with money
A dime is one tenth of a dollar and a penny is one hundredth. $4.25 is four ones, two tenths, five hundredths — kids who can count money already understand decimal places; the chart just names what they know.
Line up the points, always
Adding and subtracting decimals is a place value skill: stack the numbers so the decimal points form one column. Every "my answer is wrong by a factor of ten" mistake is a point that drifted.
Trailing zeros are free
4.5 and 4.50 name the same number — the extra zero just shows the hundredths place is empty. Comparing 4.5 with 4.47 gets easy once kids pad to 4.50 and see it is 3 hundredths more.
Use grid models alongside
A 10×10 grid where one square is one hundredth makes the columns visible. Shade 0.4 and it fills four columns of ten — tenths you can literally count.
Frequently asked questions
What are the decimal place values?
Moving right from the decimal point: tenths (10⁻¹), hundredths (10⁻²), thousandths (10⁻³), then ten thousandths, hundred thousandths and millionths. Each is one tenth of the place to its left, mirroring how whole-number places each get ten times bigger moving left.
Is the decimal point a place value?
No — it is a marker, not a column. It has no value of its own; it just tells you where the ones column ends and the tenths begin. That is why the point must line up in a column when you add or subtract decimals.
How do you read 42.607 out loud?
"Forty-two and six hundred seven thousandths." Read the whole-number side, say "and" for the point, then read the decimal side as a plain number and attach the name of its last column.
What grade uses decimal place value charts?
Grade 4 introduces tenths and hundredths; grade 5 extends to thousandths and comparing decimals. The chart above also shows the whole-number columns so younger siblings get use out of the same printout.