The other partner has to say "Ten is less than 15" One partner writes on the dry erase board: 10 < 15 Put the question and the answer on index cards so the kids can self check. On a dry erase board, the partner must write: “12 > 6” One student reads aloud without showing the card to his partner: “Twelve is greater than 6” Here is an activity I have the kids practice to get more comfortable with the symbols. Teach the concepts of comparing numbers, let them remember the symbols through frequent practice, exposure, and application. The symbols are just a skill to remember like a sight word, not a concept that you have to develop for them over a longer period of time. I have never give them a trick, they just remember it the same way they learned to remember b, d, p, q. Well, let me tell you, none of them want to write the words so it seems that with the games and activities that I have them do, they do just fine. Then one day I take it off the wall but I still tell them they can write the words instead of the symbols. I let them pick which way they want to write their comparisons and of course most of them choose the symbol. For a while I write the words with the symbols below, hang it on the wall as a reference, and so on. And I show them, how it takes less then one second to write and they love it. And then one day, I say I forgot to tell you there is a quicker way to write it. When I first introduce the inequality symbols, I have been having the kids write out the words greater than, and less than, equal to. If x = 1 – then you would fill in the blank with stand for greater than. If x = 2 – then you would fill in the blank with = It’s basically a more dignified version of the alligator method for comparing numbers and takes much less time than drawing teeth.Īs a former middle school teacher who now teaches first grade, I have seen first hand what a disaster it is for a child that can’t just look at the (> and and , Two dots always face the bigger number and one dot always faces the smaller number, because two dots is bigger than one dot. A way that I’ve found works great with students is to put small dots on the symbols. But there are different, more “mathy” ways for kids to show their thinking in writing. Yes, yes, the alligator eats the bigger number, and it helps kiddos remember the difference. They understand that one of the symbols means less than and the other means greater than, but they have trouble remembering which is which. That’s often more difficult because they are abstract symbols and totally meaningless to children. That’s an exercise in place value and is best handled through lots, LOTS, LOTS! (sorry, didn’t mean to yell…) of concrete practice building and comparing numbers. First, students need to understand quantity and determine which number is larger. There are really two steps involved in comparing numbers. And while I’m at it, PacMan is soooooooo 70s! It’s time to move past using alligators for comparing numbers.
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