First graders in Ronni Alpert and Leighanne Wenig’s class recently immersed themselves in a fun math activity to compare quantities and master the use of symbols for greater than, less than, and equal to. Building on the story of the alligator whose hungry mouth always opens towards the greater number, the teachers creatively encouraged their students to participate in a more-than-less-than partner game.
“In this interactive game, the students used number cards, dominos and other supports to review this concept with their partners,” Alpert and Wenig said. “We believe that using multisensory strategies of hands-on manipulatives, writing, and verbally sharing their comparison sentences in an engaging activity enables them to solidify and transfer the concept.”
As part of their ongoing math unit, the students have been learning to study, organize and manipulate numbers within 40. Through hands-on activities, they’ve demonstrated their understanding of place value when they recognize that 18 is less than 21.
