More than... Less than.. Equal to...

Hi peeps... 
Would like to share some information about the relations core : more than, less than, and equal to. It is important for teachers to take note that children need to know the number concept very well before they are able to identify what is more and what is less. This topic can be found in page 134 from the book Elementary and Middle school mathematics: teaching developmentally by John A. Van de Walle, Karen S. Karp and Jennifer M. Bay-Williams.

Do you know that children have difficulties to understand the concept less as they have more opportunities to use the word more but have limited exposure to the word less?
I had the same experience too.. When I was in kindergarten, my grandmother scooped 2 scoops of rice, thinking that her granddaughter is hungry. In my mind, I wanted to say less but I do not know the word and instead and said more but my hand showing the action of putting the rice back into the rice cooker. My grandmother then realized what I want as she keep scooping and I keep pouring back. That's when I learnt the word 'less'.

Thus, to help children with the concept of less, frequently pair it with more so that the children can understand the concept clearly. 

Last night, Dr Yeap, our lecturer for Maths module showed us a sample activity of how to teach more than and less than by listening to the sound of coins in different bottles. One bottle is labelled 3 as there are 3 coins in it while the rest are labelled in letters. Each bottle has different amount of coins and the children are supposed to shake the bottle and identify which bottle has more than 3 coins and which bottle has less than 3 coins. The activity covers other skills such as identifying which is more by listening, by weighing, by counting, etc.
That's all for today...

I'm off to class now!