Kelsey MacLeod

Karren Williston
February 24, 2015

Math Peer Teaching: Developing Concepts of Exponents, Integers and Real numbers

Summary
Up until grade 6, students focus on whole numbers in math. In grades 6-8, students start
exploring positive and negative integers and fractions as rational numbers (positive and negative)
which expands their knowledge and understanding of the entire real number system.
This chapter focuses on developing concepts of Exponents, Integers, and Real numbers,
which builds upon previous math concepts. Exponents are a more efficient way to express
repeated multiplication, are used in algebraic expressions and extends the order of operations.
The order of operations are: brackets, exponents, division and multiplication (from left to right),
and addition and subtraction (from left to right). Place value concepts are expanded when
students are taught how to represent large and small numbers through scientific notation. The
number line (and operations) is extended from positive numbers to include negative numbers
when students learn about integers.
It is important as elementary teachers to expose students in grades 4 and 5 to the very
basics of these mathematical concepts, especially exponents and integers. This way, when
students learn these concepts in middle school in a more abstract way, they have a background of
conceptual understanding and meaning for the symbols they use, rather than just memorizing the
steps to solve equations.

Big Ideas
Exponential notation is a way to express repeated products of the same number.
Specifically, powers of 10 express very large and very small numbers in an economical
manner.
Integers are the negative and positive counting numbers and zero. Positive and negative
numbers are used together to describe quantities having opposite directions or values
(e.g., temperature above or below zero).
Whole numbers, fractions, and integers are rational numbers. Every rational number can
be expressed as a fraction
Many numbers are not rational; the irrationals can be expressed only symbolically or
approximately using a close rational number. Examples include 3 1.41421 or

3.14159

Prior Knowledge
Understand number lines and placement of whole numbers on the number line
Understand that larger numbers are further right on a horizontal number line

 Use symbols to compare and contrast numbers

Understand operations with positive numbers

Misconceptions
Students may read -5 as minus five instead of negative 5.
Some students may believe that negative five is greater than negative 1 because they
relate this to their knowledge of positive numbers.


Lesson plan

Teacher(s):

Kelsey McLeod and

Karren Williston

School/District

Math

Subject Area(s):

Math

Grade Level:

6 (introduce in 4/5)

Date:

February 24, 2015

Lesson Duration:

45-60 minutes

GCO: Number (N): Develop number sense




SCO: N7: Demonstrate an understanding of integers, concretely, pictorially and symbolically.
[C, CN, R, V]


NCTM:
Develop meaning for integers and represent and compare quantities with them.
Understand the meaning and effects of arithmetic operations with fractions, decimals, and
integers.
Develop and analyze algorithms for computing with fractions, decimals, and integers and
develop flue

Learning Objectives:
Add and subtract signed integers using different notations for the same concept.
Placement of integers on a number line
Develop intuition about comparing signed numbers.
The meaning of absolute value


Materials:
coloured paper for number line (21 sheets for -10 to +10)
markers
sticky notes
Smartboard
youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yevn2t8wLg

Warm-up:
Have students watch this short video (1:26 minutes) about how negative numbers are used in
everyday life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yevn2t8wLg

After, have students discuss the following questions using Think-Pair-Share
When have you seen/used negative numbers?

Proceedure
Activity 1: Find your opposite buddy
On white board or smartboard have a number line from -10 to +10.

1) Give each student a post it note with a positive or negative number on it. For example
numbers ranging from -10 to +10 (include zero) for a class of 21 students.
2) Each student has to find their opposite buddy (Example 1 goes with -1, but zero has no
buddy).
3) Have students link arms with their buddy
4) Have buddies order themselves from least to greatest-using positive numbers. Order from
0-10.
5) The buddies should have now formed two parallel lines. Ensure that one line is all positive
numbers (1-10) are in one line and all negative numbers are in the other line (-10 to -1).
6) Have buddies unlink arms
7) Have all positive numbers link arms
8) Have all negative numbers link arms (zero remains alone)
9) Have negative numbers pivot in a line, so the two parallel lines become one number line from
-10 to +10.
10) Have students compare their humain line to the number line on the board
11) Have them put their sticky note number on the number line where it should be on the board.

Mini Lesson
1) How far is +5 from 0?
2) How far is -5 from 0?

These numbers are both the same distance away from 0, and they were opposite buddies when
we paired up. -5 and +5 have the same absolute value.

Ask students:
1) What about if we take the number 2?
2) What number has the same absolute value as +2?
provide prompters as needed
Who was +2s opposite buddy?

Absolute value is the distance between that number and 0.

Ask students:
What is the absolute value of 7? (7)
What is the absolute value of -7? (7)
What is the absolute value of -1? (1)
What is the absolute value of +9? (9)

Activity 2 Lifesize number line!
This activity has students physically moving along the number line to solve real-life problems.
Model: Number line
Context: Money, Payments, and deposits

Ask the students the following questions. Have small groups take turns physically moving on
the number line. Ensure everyone gets a turn.

1) You have $7.00 and you bought a box of cookies for $5. How much do you have left?
2) You want to go to the movies but you have $0.00. A ticket costs $8.00. You ask your parents
to loan you some money. How much money will you owe them?
3) Your friend borrowed $5 from you yesterday to buy candy. How much does your friend owe
you?
4) You have $3.00 and you want to buy a stuffed animal for your little cousin that costs $6.00.
You asked your parents for some money to cover the cost. How much did you have to borrow?
How much do you owe them?
5) You have $12.00 and want to go to the Frex. It costs $20.00 for the all-inclusive package.
You borrow money from your parents. How much money do you owe them?

6) You owe your parents $2 from buying a candy bar yesterday. At lunch you want to buy a
subway sandwich for $5. Then at snack you bought a banana for $1. At supper you bought pizza
for $4. At the end of the day, how much do you owe your parents?

Wrap-up
Turn to a shoulder partner and discuss what you learned today. Talk about the following:
1) Positive numbers
2) Negative numbers
3) Absolute values

Teachers conclusion:
Positive and negative numbers are called integers. Positive numbers move up the number line
and negative numbers move down the number line. 10 is greater than 1 in positives and -1 is
greater than -10 in negatives because it is a mirror image. We also learned that absolute values
are the distance from the number to zero. So 5 and -5 have the same absolute value of 5.

Assessment:
Formative assessment will occur throughout, and will consist of monitoring of students
think-pair-shares, and observation of the students interaction / involvement with the life-size
number line.

Differentiation
Before each activity the teacher will relay the instructions for the activity verbally so all students
understands and so that he/she can check for understanding with the students.

As the activities planned are active and/or discussion based, all learners will be able to
participate in the activities.

Also, by including hands-on, interactive activities the students will be more likely to remember
the instructional material.

Enrichment:
Students who have grasped the concept of integers in this lesson can use a class laptop and ipad.
Individually or in pairs, these students can go to the following site and answer questions about
integers. This site gives notifies the student immediately upon their response whether they
answered correctly or not.

http://ca.ixl.com/standards/new-brunswick/math/grade-6

References

CPALMS. (2014). Understanding Integers. Retrieved from http://www.cpalms.org/Public/
PreviewResource/Preview/48320
Department of Education. (2010). New Brunswick Mathematics Grade 6 Curriculum Guide.
Retrieved from: http://www.gnb.ca/0000/publications/curric/Mathematics_NB_

Curriculum_Grade_6.pdf
Jaeger, T. (2011, July 15). Negative Numbers...Where Are They? Retrieved February 18,
2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yevn2t8wLg

Lanely, J. (2010, January 11). Living Math with Positive and Negative Numbers. Retrieved
February 18, 2015, from
http://jimmiescollage.com/2010/01/living-math-with-positive-and-negative-numbers/
National Council of Mathematics Teachers. (2015). Using an Elevator to Evaluate Signed
Number Expressions: Flipping for Integers. Retrieved from
http://illuminations.nctm.org/Lesson.aspx?id=4086

Van, . W. J. A., Folk, S., Bay-Williams, J. M., McGarvey, L. M., & Karp, K. S. (2015).
Elementary and middle school mathematics: Teaching developmentally.