Comparing Decimals

Students had an introductory lesson on how to compare decimals today.  We started by comparing tenths to tenths, then hundredths to hundredths.  We found that comparing decimals is just like comparing whole numbers: pay attention to the place value of each digit.  Students extended their comparison to comparing decimals with similar tenths but different hundredths, and hundredths to numbers with only tenths.  We realized that it's not hard; we just have to remember that 0.9 is equivalent to 0.90 and this knowledge helps us in our comparisons.