Academy Curricular Exchange
Columbia Education Center
Mathematics

TITLE:  Negative & Positive Numbers

AUTHOR:  Herb Colley, McLaren School; Woodburn, OR

GRADE LEVEL:  Appropriate for grades 4 and up.

OVERVIEW:  The concept of positive and negative numbers is
difficult for students of all ages.  These activities can
help to reinforce the idea that we work with positive and
negative numbers all of the time and that the concept is not
difficult.

OBJECTIVE(s):  Students will be able to:
1.  Recognize positive and negative numbers.
2.  Perform mathematical functions using positive and
    negative numbers.
3.  Identify and read positive and negative numbers on a
    thermometer.
4.  Demonstrate positive and negative numbers on a graph.

MATERIALS:
Teacher materials = dry ice, acetone, electric hot plate or
     bunson burner, tape of football game, tape recorder,
     stock pages from newspaper, thermometer.
Student materials = pencils, colored pencils, graph paper,
     thermometers.

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
1.   Use dry ice and acetone to show cold temperatures on a
     thermometer, boiling water to show hot temperatures.
2.   Using graph paper, plot the loss and gain of a player
     carrying the ball in a football game.
3.   Using graph paper, plot the Dow Jones  or Standard and
     Poor Averages.

TYING IT TOGETHER:  This can be used as one lesson or
expanded to several as needed by students

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