Lauren TS#6

I have noticed that all my students have a difficult time understanding less than.  Greater than seemed less challenging of a concept for them to grasp; however, the idea of taking away or simply describing a set as having less than another set seems complicated for them.  Many choose the same amount or demonstrate a greater amount.  So for this session, I focused on going in more depth for less than.  I asked my tutee to bring his toy cars to encourage his participation and keep his attention focused on the lesson.  We began the session using these manipulatives.  I demonstrated several scenarios where one set had less than another set.  When it was time for my tutee to choose the set with less, he struggled.  He continuously chose the set with the same amount of cars.  I decided to explain in Spanish.  After doing so, I gave more examples of less than and then had him choose the set with less.  He did so more accurately; however, some errors were still made.  To help my tutee better understand, I used edible manipulatives to teach him that if he has say four marshmallows and he eats two, he will have less than when he first got the marshmallows.  He enjoyed the part where he got to eat the marshmallows and seemed to begin understanding the concept of less than.