Topic: Greater the Hungry Alligator.

Materials:

A leveling scale

A bag of beans

Small sacks to hold beans (enough for each student)

A large alligator cut-out on poster board paper with a spinner

Alligator stickers with the words “I fed the Gator” written on them (enough for each student)

A box decorated like an alligator’s mouth

Standards: 

Georgia QCC (Quality Core Curriculum) Standard #28 Number Senses and Numeration; Fractions and Decimals.

Sequencing:  Identifies numerical relations (greater than, less than, equal to) in ascending order.

To teach students in first grade the concepts of greater than, less than, and equal to.

Objectives:

Students will be able to identify numbers as being greater than, less than, and equal to in relation to another number with a 94% accuracy level.

Assessment:

Students will be given two sets of worksheets. Each will include a total of 25 problems.  Each correct answer will merit one bean.  Once both worksheets are completed, each student gets to bring their bag of beans to the scale to compare it to mine.  I will have 46 beans on my half of the scale.   If the student’s bag of beans is greater than mine, they get to feed it to the gator by dropping their bag into the alligator box. They then receive an “I fed the Gator” sticker.  (Indicating 96% + accuracy)  If the beans are equal (indicating 94% accuracy) encourage students to work on the incorrect one’s using the time line atop the page.  Students with beans less than the Gator Keeper (indicating less than 92% accuracy) will also be encouraged to re do the incorrect answers using their number line.  This will continue until all students have received stickers.

Content:          

Using random numbers children will determine which number is bigger and smaller.

Using picture sets on an overhead projector, ask students to tell how many items are in each set.  Then, ask which set has more items than the other. 

Using the concept of the hungry alligator help students understand the correct symbols for greater than “>”, less than “<”, and equal to “=”.

Anticipator Set:

Using the over head projector, have a large circle divided into 10 pie sections projected on the board.  Pick ten numbers at random and write them on the white board in each section.  Attach the large alligator cutout to the center of the board to use as a spinner.  Have the theme music to “Wheel of Fortune” playing in the background. Tell the students you are the Gator Keeper and introduce them to Greater, the hungry alligator.  Explain that Gator is very hungry and loves to munch on large numbers.  It is feeding time and you need their help to feed Gator the biggest numbers we can find.  

Presentation:       

Have children come up and take turns spinning the alligator wheel.  Write down the first number, then the second.  Ask children to guess which number the Hungry Gator would want to eat and circle the correct number.  Continue this activity until every student has taken a turn spinning the wheel twice and determining the biggest number to feed Gator.

Guided Practice:

Place picture sets on the overhead projector.  Ask children to determine which set has the biggest number.  Would Gator eat the eight apples or the twelve oranges?  Introduce the greater that sign.  Explain that the sign “> and <” is a symbol for Gator’s hungry mouth and they should make sure he always eats the biggest number.  If Gator eats the first number it is called greater than “>”.  If Gator eats the second number it is called less than “<”.  Show two sets with an equal number of items.  Ask students what they should do in this situation. Explain to students that the items were equal so the alligator slides back under the water and use an “=” equal sign to demonstrate this. Have students come to front of class and draw the correct sign for different number sets displayed on the projector. 

Closure:  

Once the students have finished their worksheets and collected their bag of beans, they can come to the front of the room to try and feed Gator.  Pour their beans onto the scale and see if they have more beans than the Gator Keeper.  Once they do, give them an “I fed the Gator” sticker.

Independent Practice:

Students will be given two activity sheets of twenty-five questions to complete greater than and less than and equal to equations. Give the students a bag to collect their beans. Give the student’s one bean for each correct answer. 

Using the School Zone Counting 1 - 10 Mathematics CD on sequencing, or another similar supplement, allow students to continue greater than, less than, and equal to concepts of sequencing on the computer. 

Accommodations:

For children having difficulty grasping the concepts of greater than, less than and equal to provide a number line atop the pages of each activity set. Show students how to find the numbers on the scale, determine which one is bigger, and draw Gator eating the biggest number on each problem.  If the two numbers are the same, draw the “=” to show Gator swimming back under the water.

For students physically unable to spin the Gator Wheel, assign a buddy to spin the number wheel.  Teacher can write down the two numbers onto the black or white board and have students verbally answer which number is bigger.