Ashley Walker Professor Sumrall Education 1301 3 October 2011

Lesson Plan 2
Math Lesson Plan Major Concept Using Comparison Symbols Grade/Age First Grade

Learning Objectives 1. Students will use place value to compare whole numbers and to record the comparisons using numbers and symbols. (<, =, >) 2. Students will relate informal language to mathematical symbols Materials 1. Bags of 10 color tiles (1 bag per student) 2. Dry erase marker Lesson 1. I will begin by asking the students if they realize that we use an equal sign (=) to shorten the word equals in our math problems. 2. I will then pass out the bags of tiles to the students and keep a bag for myself, as well. 3. Then, I will put some tiles in a stack to the left side, and then some on the right. (I will allow each student to do so, also.) 4. Walk around the room and find a student who put five and five on each side and allow them to write that 5=5 on the white board. 5. Once the first student has finished, I will then pick a student who put more on one side than the other. (For example, 8 on the left side and 2 on the right side.) 6. I will then ask the students as to which side is taller. 7. Once the students have agreed on an answer, I will then show them how to write 8>2. 8. I also explained that the open end of the symbol faces the bigger number. (It's an alligator mouth eating the biggest number.) Another method to try is the dot method: put two dots on the open end and one on the point. The two dots are closest to the big number. Application Activity I will write numbers on the board (such as 5, 13, 7) and ask the students to put the numbers in order from least to greatest. Once everyone is complete, I will then ask what symbol belongs between each number. Follow-up/Homework I will have the students practice drawing number symbols on a piece of paper that night. They will need to draw each one five times and practice the dot method with their parents that night. I will also send home a pair of dice so that the students can roll them and compare the two outcomes. Resources Used to Create this Lesson

Saxon Math. (2010). Using Comparison Symbols. Harcourt Achieve Incorporated and Nancy Larson.