Math lesson plan · 7th grade (Year 8 in England) · 45 minutes
Add integers using sign rules
Number sense
CCSS 7.NS.A.1.BCCSS 7.NS.A.1.DEngland: KS3 NumberEngland: GCSE Foundation Number
Objective and success criteria
Students will: Add integers using sign rules.
- I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
- I can explain each step and say why it works.
- I can check my answer and spot a mistake.
Before and after
Needs first: Add integers with number-line jumps
Leads to: Subtract integers by adding the opposite; Collect like terms with negative coefficients
Materials: Place value chart, Base-ten blocks or a number line, Mini whiteboards and pens, Printed student sheet (below).
Warm-up · 5 min
- Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Add integers with number-line jumps). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
- Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
Hook · 5 min
- Show a number in the news or a price tag and ask what each digit is worth.
- Share the objective: Add integers using sign rules. Read the success criteria together.
I do: model it · 10 min
- Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
- Example: −56 + (−45) = ?
- Step 1: 56 + 45 = 101
- Step 2: −56 + (−45) = −101
- Answer: -101
- Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.
We do: guided practice · 10 min
- Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
- Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
- −38 + (−26) = ? → -64Prompt: Same signs: add the sizes and keep the sign.
- −51 + 30 = ? → -21Prompt: Different signs: subtract the smaller size from the larger size.
You do: independent practice · 10 min
- Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
- Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.
The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.
Exit ticket · 5 min
- Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
- 6 + 10 + 15 + (−12) = ? → 19Prompt: Add all the positives together and all the negatives together.
- −35 + (−39) = ? → -74Prompt: Same signs: add the sizes and keep the sign.
Watch out for
- Reading 1,045 as one thousand four hundred five: point to each place and say its value.
- Thinking a longer number is always bigger, even with decimals (0.45 vs 0.5).
Support and stretch
Support
- Review first: Add integers with number-line jumps.
- Use concrete materials: place value chart.
- Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
- Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.
Stretch
- Move on to: Subtract integers by adding the opposite; Collect like terms with negative coefficients.
- Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
- Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.
Homework and more practice
Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/math/grade-7.
Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder