Family Letters and
Activities
Chapter 2 Negative Numbers and the Number Line
Dear Family,
In this chapter, your student will learn about negative numbers. Some
of the skills your student will practice are:
• usingnegativenumberstorepresentreal-worldquantities
•comparingandorderingnumbersonanumberline
A negative number is to
the left of 0 on a horizontal
number line.
A negative number is the
opposite of its corresponding
positive number. 10 is the
opposite of 10 and 10 is
the opposite of 10.
•understandingabsolutevalues
Activity
Agoodfoundationinnumbersensewillhelpyourstudentinmiddle
schoolandbeyond.Inthisactivityyourstudentcanpractice
identifyingpositiveandnegativenumbers,theiropposites,andtheir
absolute values.
•Drawalongstraightlineonasidewalkwithchalk,ortapealong
piece of string to a bare floor, or tape a shorter piece of string to
a table top.
•Usechalk,maskingtape,orself-stickremovablenotestoadd
evenly-spacednumberedlabelstothenumberline,asshown.
© Marshall Cavendish International (Singapore) Private Limited.
Vocabulary to
Practice
Ifyouareusingthefloororasidewalk,putthelabelsabout
The absolute value of a
number is its distance from 0
on a number line. Two vertical
bars are used to represent
absolute value:
|2| = 2 and |4| = 4. Because
distanceisalwayspositive,
absolutevaluesarealways
positive.
0 is its own opposite, and the
absolute value of 0 is 0.
one foot apart.
5
4
3
2
1
0
1
2
3
4
5
• Haveyourstudentstand(orpoint,ifusingatabletop)atthepoint
labeled 0.
• Giveadirectionsuchas“Goto2,”or“Moveyourfingerto2.”
Afteryourstudentcompletesthedirectioncorrectly,giveanother
one.Includedirectionssuchas“Gototheoppositeof–5”and“Go
to the absolute value of 4.”
Math in Focus Course 1
(M)MIF_FLA6_4PP180511.indd 2
Online Resources
ForadditionalParent
Resources my.hrw.com
Family Letters and Activities
5/18/11 9:09 PM