The Greater Than Less Than Gator

 One of our current math strategies is learning greater than, less than, and equal to. When I was younger, I always thought the little sign looked like an alligator. So to teach this concept, we are using the greater than, less than gator.

To start I wrote two numbers on the white board along with a matching number of X's. I then drew the sign showing greater than or less than and added eyes and teeth. I told her that the gator always eats the bigger number because gators are hungry and they like to eat A LOT. Then we discussed which direction was greater than and which was less than.

Teaching equal to isn't as hard because kids can see that the numbers are the same. I simply told her that when it's equal to the gator is sleeping, so it kind of looks like his mouth is closed. She seemed to understand this explanation easily.

After using my illustrations, I drew numbers on the board and she wrote her own greater than, less than gator. The next technique I will be using to reinforce this concept is more of a craft along with the math. I'll post about that next week. This is just a starter idea if you're looking to teach greater than, less than to your kindergartner.