What is an Integer?

Positive, Negative and All In Between

This week in Mathematics we revisited Integers. I use the term revisited because it, to me, feels like too many years have passed since I have studied or worked with Integers within a classroom setting. Although it is clear that we use integers everyday in our lives without even realizing it having them placed infant of me caused me to be a bit nervous in Tuesday's class. 

Before jumping into integers we had the chance to meet up with our groups from last week and share our solutions and study one other solution on Mr. Joel's kitten math problem we were assigned the previous week. After listening to another group share their findings - which was done in a different method than ours - we shared ours. We were able to have a professional learning conversation with the group and give advice and our likes and dislikes about ours, and their problem solving answers. Below is a picture of (in black and red) our group's solutions and in blue another table that joined to share us. This exercise showed us that although it is one problem and there is one answer we were all able to reach the answers in a different way - we were all able to start which means this was a GOOD word problem. A good word problem should be the goal behind every problem that a teacher provides their students. We, as a class, brainstormed multiple different things that make a good word problem, in addition to being able to get started. Manipulatives, soft language, wide base and challenging are some of the many that the class knew would lead to a good work problem.

Following sharing our findings with one group we got to walk around the class to see each table's methods on finding who's store would be the cheapest to purchase the kitten food from. This is called a class congress and although, unlike a gallery walk where we would leave behind comments for the groups' work we instead compared it back to ours. This work created a lot of ah -ha moments for both my group and myself when seeing all the possible ways of approaching the word problem!

We learned and got to play around with an online game as a class prior to the presentations at the end of the class. The game showed how engaging, even as an adult, a math game can be for students when learning new things.

The multiple presenters all applied math and integers to different parts of our lives - which further proved that we do use integers everyday... even if we do not realize it. 

Kelley, for example, used integers in the sense of temperatures. We learned and were able to grasp and understand that if a temperature is negative it is cold and vice versa. We were also given a couple minutes, included with some great background "around the world" music, to complete ordering the integers in the different countries she provided. Not only did we relearn integers and learn to order them but we also had to be able to complete integer formulas. For example if Country A is 45 degrees colder than Country B it is ? We had to remember that when we add positive to a negative we get less negative and negative to a positive we have less.

Adam, another teacher candidate that presented on integers, provided a different view and spin onto integers. He stated that negative integers were our negative experiences in life and positive integers were to represent positive experiences in our lives. This explanation could be good when teaching integers for intermediate students who are having a difficult time in trying to understand or recognize integers in their everyday lives. 

Check out this poster that you can hang in the classroom to remind students of the different rules of adding and subtracting integers if your student needs to remember them! Although we have learned this week to stray away from those riddles and really understand what is happening when you are subtracting or adding this is still an excellent tools for the little kids!

https://www.amazon.com/Integer-Song-Classroom-Math-Poster/dp/B00OHSOIKY/ref=sr_1_323?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1469458737&sr=1-323&keywords=classroom+posters

Check out this page for positive and negative number games for your students! A great resource with relatable scenarios for students to comprehend what the negative and positive signs actually represent!

http://www.teachinginroom6.com/2013/02/positive-and-negative-number-game.html

Great integer week and cannot wait to see what the next class has in store! I have been enjoying learning all the new ways to approach math and participating in the activities that the students have been presenting. 

See you next week..

Take care, 

Emily