Teaching integers

[cecilia_rose]

I have difficulty in getting my child to understand the negative numbers. How can it be well taught?

[doug_math]

You can use temperature to teach the kids integers. Kids are familiar with numbers below zero when it comes to temperatures.

Hope that helps.

[mrsjones]

I have been using the analogy of an elevator to teach integers and it seems to work well with my students. As the elevator goes up from the ground level, the numbers keep increasing. Below ground level, we use the negative sign to show going in opposite direction. We keep going lower and lower into the ground when we go in the negative direction.
Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Mrs. Jones
Elementary Teacher

[sunder]

Thank you doug_math and cecilia_rose for the excellent suggestions