I have always taught ascending order by having students convert between decimals, fractions, and percentages. This year I tried something different and it is working much better. If your students are struggling, I recommend giving the number line a try.
Circles have really been helpful this year as we compared different amounts so I'm using them to teach adding fractions. For middle school the students are limited to denominators of 12 so most of the circles can be cut into those pieces easier than high school student standards. This is also a great way to show when you are converting from an improper fraction to a mixed number what is happening and why.