Introduction

Explore the relationship between numbers and introduce children to the important concept of equivalence; focus on the correct use of comparative language, as well as use of mathematical symbols (<, = and >).

Teaching points

• Teaching Point 1: Items can be compared according to attributes such as length (or height or breadth), area, volume/capacity or weight/mass.
   
• Teaching Point 2: When comparing two sets of objects, one set can contain more objects than the other and one set can contain fewer objects than the other, or both sets can contain the same number of objects.
   
• Teaching Point 3: The symbols <, > and = can be used to express the relative number of objects in two sets, or the relative size of two numbers.