Develop understanding of positive and negative integers with this focused lesson sequence, designed to build students' conceptual understanding through explicit teaching, visual models and guided practice. Students explore how integers are used to represent temperatures on vertical number lines and thermometers, learn to interpret and compare positive and negative temperatures in relation to zero, and apply this understanding through engaging planet temperature contexts that involve plotting, comparing and reasoning about temperatures above and below zero.

Note: Get the most from this lesson by using it with the matching teacher slides and independent student activities. Click here to view the bundle.

Built around the I Do, We Do, You Do model, this lesson sequence guides students from explicit instruction to supported practice and independent application. Through modelled examples, collaborative discussion and structured mathematics tasks, students investigate positive and negative temperatures, represent values on vertical number lines and thermometers, compare temperatures in relation to zero, and explain their mathematical reasoning using precise mathematical language.

What's included in this teacher resource?

• Comprehensive lesson sequence focused on representing and interpreting positive and negative integers using vertical number lines and thermometers
• Clear learning intention and success criteria centred on identifying and comparing positive and negative temperatures in relation to zero
• Explicit instruction and modelled examples demonstrating how to represent and compare planet temperatures on thermometers
• Guided practice tasks supporting students to accurately plot and interpret temperatures on vertical number lines
• Activities that develop understanding of positive and negative temperatures through engaging planet-themed contexts
• Opportunities for students to explain and justify their reasoning using mathematical language
• Built-in check-ins for learning to monitor understanding throughout the lesson
• A formative exit ticket to assess understanding of representing, comparing and interpreting temperatures using integers

Perfect for upper primary classrooms, this lesson sequence develops students' conceptual understanding of positive and negative integers while building confidence interpreting, representing and comparing temperatures above and below zero. Students strengthen their mathematical reasoning through engaging real-world and cross-curricular contexts that connect integer concepts to meaningful applications.

Format: PDF

Aligned to Australian Curriculum Outcome: Recognise situations, including financial contexts, that use integers; locate and represent integers on a number line and as coordinates on the Cartesian plane (AC9M6N01)

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