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. 

The One with the Scavenger Hunt

Sometime last year I stumbled across a scavenger hunt on TPT.

It sounded fun so I decided to give it a try.

I loved it!

My students loved it!

It's a great way to help students review a concept.  They can check their work as they go.  If they can't find their answer then they know they made a mistake.

It gets students up and moving.

I am a fan of up and moving.  I heard in a workshop once that when we sit too long all of our blood puddles in our booty.  I LOVE that!  And my students always get a kick out of hearing it.

I always let my students work with a partner when we do a scavenger hunt.  I do this for two reasons.  One, it helps keep crowding at one card down to a minimum.  Two, it gives them that little bit of social interaction.

The day after or before a break is my favorite time to do scavenger hunts.  The kids are a little antsy and just aren't capable of sitting still in their desk.

You better believe we did one the first day back after Christmas break.  My students were so excited when they saw the cards hanging up around the room.  It was the perfect way to review those last few concepts we studied before the break.

There are lots of great scavenger hunts on TPT and I have bought a few since finding that first one.  I have even found a few that do a wonderful job of differentiating.  There are different colored cards for different levels.

I have also made a few for myself that cater more toward what I need.  

My students began studying integers before the Christmas break.  We use the Engage NY curriculum (anyone else?) and I wasn't able to find anything that was close to what I was looking for.

So I created my own Scavenger Hunt.

I chose to keep this one short and simple since it was our first day back after the break.  I wanted students to have plenty of time to finish the activity even if they had to spend several minutes with their IMN refreshing their memory.

I assign students a problem to start with it so that not everyone is at the same card.  If a group was going to start with card # one (pictured above) they would answer the question on that card, in this case "What is the opposite of 7?" .  Once they had their answer they would walk around the room looking for the card that has the answer (-7) on the bottom.  That would be the next problem they solve.

This year my students are bad about coming to me and asking  if their answer is correct.  My answer is always go look around the room again.  If you cannot find that answer then check your work.

Sometimes when my students are searching for the wrong answer which isn't in the room they will see the right answer and immediately know what mistake they made.  I LOVE that!  I believe they are more likely to remember if they discover and correct their mistakes without my pointing them out.

This scavenger hunt is now listed in my TPT store along with a few others I've made.

I'm looking to add more to my store.

What concepts would you like to see in a Scavenger Hunt?  Leave me a comment letting me know.  If I use your idea to make a Scavenger Hunt I will send you a free copy.

The One with the Mystery Pictures

Before Spring Break we began studying integers and the coordinate plane.  My students were beyond thrilled to be finished with our unit on fractions.  I have to admit I was pretty excited to be finished as well.  

They immediately fell in love with integers.  Maybe it was because integers aren't fractions.  Or it might have had something to do with the fact they got to play integer war (see previous post) which they are still begging to play again and again.

To help them practice graphing points on a coordinate plane, I gave each student a "mystery" picture.  I had gathered somewhere between 10 and 15 different pictures from different sources because I wanted there to be a variety.  I also wanted to keep the element of surprise.  I hate when that fast working student yells out "It's a ..." and the fun is ruined for everyone else.

Having a variety also allowed me to give easier pictures to students who needed them and more challenging pictures to my more advanced students.

We spent two days working on these pictures as some of them were pretty detailed.  My students absolutely loved it.  They would start guessing as to what their picture was as soon as they graphed the first point.  Some of their guesses made me chuckle.  

I'm proud of how they turned out.  I think my students did a fabulous job.

Some of these are created by my students as extra credit - they designed the pictures and then wrote out the coordinates and directions on how to put it all together.

The One with the Integer War - Bunco Style

Oh my goodness.

My students and I had so much fun in class yesterday.  

And to top it off there were some great conversations about integers going on.

A few weeks ago as we were ending our unit on fractions I came across this blog post and immediately knew I wanted to try it out with my students.

Thank you Controlling my Chaos for sharing this fabulous idea.

It started with the purchase of 14 decks of cards.  Thank goodness for Dollar Tree.  I was able to get all of them for only $7.   And then I removed all of the jokers, jacks, queens, and kings from the decks.

I arranged my desk so that students were sitting with a partner.  This set the stage.  My students knew something was up when they walked in and saw the new arrangement.

Each pair of students were given a deck of cards which they divided evenly between the two of them.

They then played the old card game war...only with a few slight changes.

While the black cards represented positive numbers, the red cards represented negative numbers.

Aces were worth one.

Here's where it gets interesting.

The tables were numbered in true Bunco fashion.   The winner of each table gets to move up a table.  The goal was to get to the head table.  The winner of the head table stayed at the head table, but the loser had to go all the way to the last table.

Really you need to know go read Controlling My Chaos's post.   It is a much better description and even includes pictures.

My students and I were had a blast.  We were all smiling and learning.

Students were really getting into it.  There were a lot of "OOHs  and AWW MANs flying around.

They were begging to play longer.

They were upset today when they walked in and the desk were back to normal.

We'll have to play again soon.

The One With The Ordered Integers

This is only my second year to teach math, a subject that I would dare say is my weakest area. I learned a lot last year and am still learning this year.

So when I come up with something all on my own for math, I'm pretty proud of myself.

This idea hit me last night as I was planning at the last minute before I went to bed. Anyone else do that?

We started comparing and ordering integers Friday. The students did a quick six problem assignment at the end of class. That assignment showed me they were struggling with ordering negative numbers.

I knew I needed to hit that again today before we could start ordering decimals, fractions, and mixed numbers. I wanted something hands-on. I hate the typical paper and pencil stuff. Sure it has its place, but if I can make it hands-on and a little more entertaining, that's what I prefer.

I made a cut & paste worksheet last night. It has six sets of integers. Students had to cut them out and glue them on a second sheet of paper in order from least to greatest. Easy enough.

They seem to really grasp the idea today. We worked on a number line before this cutting & pasting. I think that really helped.

I really thought this would be a twenty minute activity that we could do as a review before moving on. Nope! I had no idea 7th graders would struggle so much with cutting and pasting. I guess struggle is the right word. They were just slow! It ended up taking all class period in three out of my four math classes. But hey, if the got the concept I'm okay with it.



I'm thinking I might start a store on www.teacherspayteachers.com, but until then it's free for whoever would like a copy. Just leave me a comment if you are interested and I email you.