Making Sets of More, Less, & the Same

Making sets of more, less, and the same is one of those powerhouse activities that SEEMS simple but is actually building HUGE number sense. Why?? Read on...

“When children count, they don’t automatically think about how one number is related to another. Their goal is only to match number words with objects until they reach the end of the count.”*

🤔 So how do we help our children move beyond counting isolated sets of objects and begin to see how numbers are related to each other?

💡 One way—make sets of 1 more/1 less and 2 more/2 less. As children build sets that are more and less, they begin to see how given numbers are related to each other. For example, 4 is 1 less than 5 but 1 more than 3. 6 is 2 more than 4 and 2 less than 8.

Stickers make a wonderful tool for this activity! Scroll through the pictures below to see how to set this up for three stages of young learners.

*Quote from: (Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics, v1, pg 126)