Year 1: Comparing groups: more, fewer and the same

Key words. More means a bigger number. Fewer means a smaller number. The same means equal.

Method. Count each group, then see which number is bigger.

1. Count group A. Touch each one once.
   Group A: 3 apples
2. Count group B. Touch each one once.
   Group B: 5 stars
3. Compare the two numbers. The bigger number has more. The smaller number has fewer.
   3 < 5
4. Write the answer.
   Group B has more stars.

Check. Match one to one: each thing in one group gets a partner from the other. The group with a thing left over has more. ✓

Watch out. Groups can look bigger when the things are spread out. Always count them.

Key words. More means a bigger number. Fewer means a smaller number. The same means equal.

Method. Count each group, then see which number is bigger.

1. Count group A. Touch each one once.
   Group A: 4 apples
2. Count group B. Touch each one once.
   Group B: 4 stars
3. Compare the two numbers. The bigger number has more. The smaller number has fewer.
   4 = 4
4. Write the answer.
   Both groups have 4. They are the same.

Check. Match one to one: each thing in one group gets a partner from the other. The group with a thing left over has more. ✓

Watch out. Groups can look bigger when the things are spread out. Always count them.

Key words. More means a bigger number. Fewer means a smaller number. The same means equal.

Method. Count each group, then see which number is smaller.

1. Count group A. Touch each one once.
   Group A: 6 cubes
2. Count group B. Touch each one once.
   Group B: 2 balls
3. Compare the two numbers. The bigger number has more. The smaller number has fewer.
   6 > 2
4. Write the answer.
   Group B has fewer balls.

Check. Match one to one: each thing in one group gets a partner from the other. The group with a thing left over has more. ✓

Watch out. Groups can look bigger when the things are spread out. Always count them.

Key words. More means a bigger number. Fewer means a smaller number. The same means equal.

Method. Count each group, then see which number is bigger.

1. Count group A. Touch each one once.
   Group A: 7 balls
2. Count group B. Touch each one once.
   Group B: 9 apples
3. Compare the two numbers. The bigger number has more. The smaller number has fewer.
   7 < 9
4. Write the answer.
   Group B has more apples.

Check. Match one to one: each thing in one group gets a partner from the other. The group with a thing left over has more. ✓

Watch out. Groups can look bigger when the things are spread out. Always count them.

Key words. More means a bigger number. Fewer means a smaller number. The same means equal.

Method. Count each group, then see which number is bigger.

1. Count group A. Touch each one once.
   Group A: 5 stars
2. Count group B. Touch each one once.
   Group B: 5 cubes
3. Compare the two numbers. The bigger number has more. The smaller number has fewer.
   5 = 5
4. Write the answer.
   Both groups have 5. They are the same.

Check. Match one to one: each thing in one group gets a partner from the other. The group with a thing left over has more. ✓

Watch out. Groups can look bigger when the things are spread out. Always count them.

Method. Count each group. The most is the group with the biggest number.

1. Count each group. Touch each one once.
   apples: 2
   stars: 6
   balls: 4
2. Find the biggest number. Compare the numbers.
   6 is the biggest number
3. Write the answer.
   stars

Check. The other groups have fewer or more than 6. ✓

Watch out. Do not guess from the picture. Count each group.

Method. Count each group. The fewest is the group with the smallest number.

1. Count each group. Touch each one once.
   apples: 9
   stars: 3
   cubes: 5
2. Find the smallest number. Compare the numbers.
   3 is the smallest number
3. Write the answer.
   stars

Check. The other groups have fewer or more than 3. ✓

Watch out. Do not guess from the picture. Count each group.

Method. Count each person’s sweets, then compare the two numbers.

1. Count Tom’s sweets. Tom has 5 sweets.
   Tom: 5
2. Count Aisha’s sweets. Aisha has 2 sweets.
   Aisha: 2
3. Compare the two numbers. The bigger number has more.
   5 is bigger than 2
4. Write the answer.
   Tom has more sweets.

Check. Match them up: Tom has 3 sweets left over after each of Aisha’s 2 has a partner. ✓

Watch out. Compare the numbers, not the names.

Method. Count the cubes that each person has, then compare.

1. Count Ravi’s cubes. Ravi has 6 cubes.
   Ravi: 6
2. Count Aisha’s cubes. Aisha has 6 cubes too.
   Aisha: 6
3. Compare the two numbers. Two equal numbers mean the same.
   6 = 6
4. Write the answer.
   They have the same number of cubes.

Check. Match them up one to one. Every cube has a partner. ✓

Watch out. The same number means equal, even if the cubes are different colours.

Method. Count each group, then check if Ravi is right.

1. Count group A. Touch each apple once.
   Group A: 5 apples
2. Count group B. Touch each star once.
   Group B: 4 stars
3. Compare the two numbers. The numbers are not the same.
   5 is bigger than 4
4. Write the answer. Ravi is not right, because the groups are not the same.
   No. Group A has more.

Check. Match one to one: each star has an apple partner, and one apple is left over. ✓

Watch out. Things can look full without having the same number of things.

Method. Pair each thing in one group with one thing in the other group.

1. Pair them up. Draw a line between each pair, or point to each pair.
   Each apple has a star partner
2. Look for a thing left over. A thing with no partner shows the group that has more.
   A thing is left over
3. Write the answer. The group with the leftover thing has more.
   Match one to one. The group with a thing left over has more.

Check. Try it with 3 apples and 2 stars. One apple is left over, so the apples have more. ✓

Watch out. Keep each thing to one partner only.

Key words. More means a bigger number. Fewer means a smaller number. The same means equal.

Method. Count each group, then see which number is smaller.

1. Count group A. Touch each one once.
   Group A: 9 stars
2. Count group B. Touch each one once.
   Group B: 10 apples
3. Compare the two numbers. The bigger number has more. The smaller number has fewer.
   9 < 10
4. Write the answer.
   Group A has fewer stars.

Check. Match one to one: each thing in one group gets a partner from the other. The group with a thing left over has more. ✓

Watch out. Groups can look bigger when the things are spread out. Always count them.