Exploring Greater Than and Less Than Unit of Study: Comparing Numbers Global Concept Guide: 1 of 3

Content Development  Research shows that students should have many opportunities to explore the concept of greater than and less than before they are introduced to the symbols.  In the beginning, students should be using the words “is greater than” and “is less than” to compare numbers  Children have difficulty remembering which symbol means greater than and which one means less than, therefore the symbols should not be taught in isolation without teaching the concept of what they mean  When the symbols are introduced, the words “is greater than” or “is less than” should be above the symbol and the connection between the words and the symbol needs to be consistently revisited.

Day 1  Engage/ Student Discovery – Voyages Grade 1 Excursions Numbers…Take Your Places, “Setting the Stage” TE p Numbers…Take Your Places  Students will make a live number line by taking their numerical places on a floor masking-tape number line and discuss their place in line using precise vocabulary (before, after, between).  Building Conceptual Knowledge - Voyages Grade 1 Excursions TE p “Building Conceptual Knowledge” and “Building Skills and Strategies”  While in the human number line, students identify the greatest and least numbers as well as missing numbers.  They will cut out and order sets of numbers from least to greatest, and from greatest to least, and will construct individual number lines, filling in missing numbers.  Independent Work - Voyages Grade 1 Excursions TE p. 17 “Extension”  See Excursions Student Edition p. 19. Students cut out numbered books and glue them on the appropriate shelf in order from least to greatest

Day 2  Building Conceptual Knowledge – Illuminations: Comparing SetsIlluminations: Comparing Sets  Students model subtraction scenarios with snap cubes as the teacher reads from one of the suggested children’s books.  Using their model, students compare and record on the given recording sheet. However, the recording sheet does not have a specific space to write the comparison, so students could write it in their notebooks and draw a quick picture to represent the snap cube model.  Note: This lesson reviews subtraction but keep the main focus of the lesson on the comparing numbers component.  Facilitate discussions about which number is less than and greater than based on the cube trains.

Day 3  Building Conceptual Knowledge – Go Math Chapter 7 Lessons 7.1 and 7.2 Listen and Draw sections  Now that students have had the opportunity to explore the meaning of greater than and less than, these lessons can be combined to allow students to use place value to compare 2-digit numbers.  Each student should have enough base-ten blocks (rods and unit cubes) to complete the Listen and Draw tasks. Allow them to continue to use the base-ten blocks throughout the lesson as needed (some students may stop using them after a few problems, while others will continue to use them throughout the lesson).  Focus on comparing the tens in the models first. If the tens are the same, then compare the ones.

Enrich/Reteach/Intervention  Reteach/Intervention  Ten Frame Compare – use ten frame cards to compare numbers (located towards bottom of page under 1.NBT3 Ten Frame Compare  Go Math Chapter 7 TE p. 293B Tier 1 Intervention (modify to include greater than as well as less than)  Go Math Chapter 7 R56 and R57  Enrich  Go Math Chapter 7 TE 289B Enrich (modify to include less than as well as greater than)

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