Finding the difference between two numbers

Today I’m going to teach two students how to play the Difference Game. What they’re going to do is they’re going to first take a card each, and the cards they got were seven, and four. What they’re going to do with pennies is he’s going to take seven pennies and place them in a line, and she’s going to take the number of pennies on her card, which is a four, and she’s going to place them underneath where he placed his. We’re going to do some comparing. Now we’re going to compare, and they’re going to talk about it.

I have a seven, and you have a four.

How many are left?

Three. The difference is three.

They’re going to put these pennies back, and they’re each going to take another card. So what number did you get?

I got three.

I got five.

So we’re going to take those pennies, and we’re going to compare, just like last time. The difference between three and five is…

Two.

Two. Nice job.