Math skills like rounding, estimating, and comparing numbers can often get overlooked instead of learning to recognize, read and write numerals. While these are fundamental foundation skills, it is also vital that we teach different ways to work with numbers. The easiest way to do that is by comparing numbers.
Comparing numbers is an essential part of building a student’s number sense. Number sense is the ability of a student to recognize a number, its value, and its relationship with other numbers.
Comparing numbers is finding the bigger and smaller number, more and fewer, greater than, less than, and equal to, and putting a group of numbers in order. Comparing numbers is a relational number skill where students work with numbers concerning each other.
This concept was introduced to the learners through “THE HUNGRY ALLIGATOR”.
The hungry alligator was a great way to introduce the symbols for greater than and less than. These symbols quickly turned into an alligator face to introduce students to the hungry alligator who wants to eat. When the alligator chooses between two numbers, he always chooses the greater number. The Hungry Alligator activity helped learners understand greater numbers.
