How to teach comparing and ordering numbers

Kindergarten to Grade 4

Comparing numbers means deciding which is greater, which is less, or whether they are equal, and writing it with the symbols > , < and =. It rests on place value: to compare multi-digit numbers you look at the biggest place first.

How to teach it

1. Start with quantities, not digits: which pile of counters is more? Match them up to see.
2. Teach the symbols with the 'crocodile eats the bigger number' image, but move quickly to reading them properly ('greater than', 'less than').
3. For multi-digit numbers, compare place by place from the left: hundreds first, then tens, then ones.
4. Line numbers up by place value so the columns match before comparing.
5. Extend to ordering a set of numbers smallest to largest, and to a number line.

Common mistakes

• Thinking a longer number of digits always means bigger without checking (true for whole numbers, but the reasoning matters for decimals later).
• Comparing from the right-hand digit instead of the largest place.
• Mixing up which way the > and < symbols point.