Negative numbers

Ages 9 to 12 Read alone or together · about 25 minutes

Read together

Numbers below zero are negative. On a cold day it can be minus 5 degrees.

On a number line, negatives sit to the left of zero.

Do it

1. Draw a number line from minus 10 to 10. Mark zero.
2. Start at 3 and move back 5. Where do you land?
3. Read a thermometer for a cold place and a warm place. Compare.
4. Make a game: a card says plus or minus, and you move a counter.

Talk about it

• What is 3 minus 5?
• Which is colder, minus 8 or minus 2?

For the grown-up

Negative numbers appear in temperature, debt and below-sea-level heights. Use the number line to see the order. A larger number below zero is smaller.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers, Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (2010), standard 6.NS.C.5 (positive and negative numbers in context)
• National Research Council, Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics (National Academies Press, 2001)

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.