Thursday, September 27, 2012

Comparing Numbers w/ Pac-Man

Today we did a review of number comparisons. To make it a little more interesting, as well as comprehensible, I love using good ole' Pac-Man. Shockingly, whenever I ask my students if they have heard of this early videogame character, many say that they have! For those that have not, as soon as I say "video game" their ears perk up. I always show the kiddos a picture of what the videogame screen looks like and explain how it works. 

Once we have established who "Pac-Man" is, I tie it to comparing numbers!


We discuss how the object of the game is for Pac-Man to eat all of the dots. Therefore, he always wants to eat the biggest number possible! I have the kids help me determine which of the two numbers I have presented Pac-Man would then eat, and then introduce the vocabularly we would use to read the number sentence correctly. For "equal" numbers, we talk about how because the numbers are the same, Pac-Man could go either way. We talk about how his mouth open on either side looks like an equal sign! It is open on both sides :).

Here is a quick activity sheet the kids completed to help reinforce the idea!

Click on the image to get it in English or Spanish!



3 comments:

  1. I just taught my kids greater than/less than with Pac-Man. They are now obsessed and want to do it all the time. :)
    Liz
    Teaching in the Valley

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    Replies
    1. They love it when you can tie things in to something they know, don't they!

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  2. You've been Boo-ed! Hop on over to http://www.missnelsonsgotthecamera.blogspot.com/2012/10/boo.html to check it out! Happy Fall!

    Miss Nelson’s Got the Camera!

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