Five of My Favorite Integer Activities

Teaching integers is one of my favorite topics.

Why?

Because in the beginning students act as if they will NEVER understand Integers.

Working with negative numbers is sooo hard and confusing.

And then they get it!!

Plus there are so many real life examples and activities that can be done with Integers.

I love that in most pacing guides out there, at least the ones I've come in contact with, integers is taught at the beginning of the year.  It is such a great way to build that math confidence early on.

Don't get me wrong, integers can be confusing and some students really struggle with the concept.  I just think there are so many great visuals and activities out there to help those struggling students.

Okay.

Enough of my ranting.

I have FIVE integer activities I want to share with you.

This Ordering Integers cut and paste activity is great for making a simple concept more hands-on.  What is it about cutting and pasting that just makes it more fun?  And when you print it on your favorite astrobright paper...you might as well be throwing a party!

Students get six sets of numbers that they must put in order from least to greatest.

And if cutting and pasting isn't your thing then you might appreciate the digital version of this activity.

Learning to add integers on a number line can be a bit tricky.  This digital activity is great practice and helps catch some common mistakes.  It comes with 20 different problems but you can easily cut that down if you feel like that is more than your students need or can handle.

As you can probably tell, I'm all about making simple activities more hands-on and interactive for my students.  This sort activity is a fun way to practice those adding and subtracting rules for integers.  I love to have my students do this with a partner because it produces some great math conversations among students.

If you follow me on Instagram you know how much I am loving my Integers Number Line.  I have been using this number line for a few years but this year I am using it in so many different ways.  It is individual pieces which allows you to create a horizontal or vertical number line.  In my experience students see horizontal number lines all the time, but they are not as familiar with vertical number lines.  This year I decided to hang mine up on my whiteboard with magnets so that I can create both a horizontal and vertical number line.

Then I decided I wanted to be able to use it to practice other types of problems so I created a math symbols set.

And then I thought we needed some fractions and decimals to throw in the mix so a new set was born.



I am looking forward to using these three sets all year long with my students.

And last but certainly not least, my newest activity that I am so stinkin' excited about it.

Students can practice all four operations with this digital color by number activity.  As they correctly answer questions parts of the picture began to appear.  Students will have fun guessing what they think the picture might be.

 Mario has me feeling a bit nostalgic



So there you have it!  Five of my favorite Integer Activities.  I have so many activities that I enjoy doing with Integers.  I could easily do a part two to this post if you are interested.