Greater Than, Less Than: Comparing Three-Digit Numbers

Beginning

• Show students an online image of a stamp to provide context.
• Draw alligator teeth on the "greater than" and "less than" symbols and explain to the students that the alligator wants to eat the biggest number. Point to each symbol and guide students to orally share what they mean (greater than, equal to, less than).
• Encourage students to create both three-digit numbers using base-ten blocks.

Intermediate

• Write the following information on the whiteboard for students to refer to throughout the lesson: > greater than, = equal to, < less than. Draw teeth on the greater than and less than symbols to support student understanding.

Beginning

• Allow students to work in partnerships or small groups with students who speak the same home language (L1), if possible.
• Provide students with notecards with the symbols (>, <, =) on the front and the vocabulary word on the back in English and student's home language (L1). Point to the symbol and instruct students to say the symbol name aloud.
• Partially complete the first two exercises on the worksheet to support student understanding.

Intermediate

• Have students check in with a partner to compare answers. If students have different answers, guide them to re-check their answers and discuss what went wrong in the process ("____ is greater than ____because ____.")

Beginning

• Allow students to work in a small, teacher-led group or in partnerships/small groups with students who speak the same home language (L1).
• Encourage students to refer to the notecards as they complete the worksheet.

Intermediate

• Allow students to work in partnerships.
• Ask students to walk you through their process of figuring out the symbol to use, using sequencing words (first, next, then, finally).