Compare & Order — which is bigger, what comes next, the missing number

Bigger, smaller, next, and what = really means

Which is bigger, 7 or 4? What comes next after 5, 6, 7? How many more is 9 than 6? This is the on-ramp for a six-year-old, and it is built around the one idea every curriculum says to get right first: the equals sign means is the same as, not “here comes the answer.” So the total goes on the left as often as the right — 7 = 3 + ? — and “true or false: 4 + 5 = 9” is a question a child can argue about.

Second and Third Gear are tens and ones: why 74 beats 47, ten more than 46 without counting, how many tens are in 70, which ten 48 is nearest, odd or even from the ones digit, and the zero that holds a place open in 407. The missing number comes back as the unknown factor — ? × 4 = 24 — which is what division is. Open Road compares things in the world: 90 minutes against an hour, a 2 L bottle against three 500 mL cans, 3 bags of 8 against 2 bags of 12.