Absolute Value and Opposites

Start with Positive and Negative Numbers in Real Life to give the signs meaning. Then use the number line pages, and finish with the word problem pages, letting students sketch a number line if they need one.

Find 9 absolute values, write opposites of numbers like negative 9 and compare them on a number line. The absolute value of a number is its distance from 0, and opposites are two numbers the same distance from 0 on different sides. The directions on the page read: Use the number line to help you. Answer each part. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 6th Grade integers, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with positive and negative numbers. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

They describe opposite directions or values from 0. A deposit of $40 is 40 and a withdrawal of $25 is −25, and 5 degrees below zero is −5. Positive and Negative Numbers in Real Life also asks what 0 means, such as sea level for a diver.

Place them on a number line and read from left to right. For −3, 2.5, 1/2, −0.75 and 3 3/4 the order is −3 < −0.75 < 1/2 < 2.5 < 3 3/4.

The number closer to 0 is greater. So −1.2 is greater than −1 1/4, and −7/8 is greater than −0.9, because they sit farther to the right on the number line.

Write rises and gains as positive numbers and drops and losses as negative numbers, then add. A diver at −35 feet swims down 12 feet and up 20 feet, so her elevation is −27 feet.