Compare & Order Numbers

Why is it important to know if a number is greater than or less than another?

What symbols do we use to compare numbers?

A fun and easy way to remember these symbols is to pretend they are an alligator's mouth.  An alligator (especially the ginormous one we talked about earlier) loves to eat.  They want to eat AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!!  

To model this, you would have the alligator's mouth eating the larger number.  EX:  54 > 29

***This is a great way to remember which way the symbol goes, BUT, we do NOT say anything about an alligator when reading our comparisons.  We always use correct mathematical language and use "greater than", "less than", or "equal to".  :)