Students in first grade are learning that the equal symbol doesn’t necessarily mean to “do” something. It can just mean that a mathematical statement is “true”.
In first grade, Sarah, Ariane, and I wanted to introduce the equal sign, along with the greater than/less than symbols before the introduction of the addition symbol. Based on our work last year, we knew that often, students had a misconception regarding the equal symbol, and they thought that it meant to compute, or be used as an operator in an equation. We brought the large “see saw” blocks down from the roof play area and used them for a model. Then we followed up with smaller table top manipulatives.
After the students had plenty of experience with the equal symbol, and greater than/less than symbol, we introduced the plus symbol and emphasized its meaning as an operation. We used true/false equations, some with expressions on either side of the equal symbol, that students solved by using the balances. They learned that an equal symbol doesn’t mean “to do” something. It can just mean that it’s explaining a relationship.
