MathChat

Subtracting Integers

A reader named Michelle said she enjoyed my post on Memorizing the Times Tables. And then she asked if I have any tips on teaching students to SUBTRACT INTEGERS.

It turns out that the answer is “yes,” and there are two places where I model this topic.

The first is an excerpt from my Algebra Survival Guide, an excerpt about subtracting integers that you can check out now.

First click on this link, then scroll down to read pages 43-46 (you can enlarge the print size by increasing the percentage located in the top bar):

http://www.singingturtle.com/downloads/ASG%20sample%20chapter.pdf

But there’s more:

I wrote an entire book on the topic of combining integers, PreAlgebra Blastoff! We created foam manipulatives to get across the idea of integers. There’s a piece of a foam with a hole in the center, the NEGATon, which stands for – 1. There’s a piece that fills the hole, the POSITon, and that manipulative stands for + 1. When you put the POSITon inside the NEGATon, you get 0, and that is a piece called a ZERObi.

Using these manipuatives you can model and teach students how to combine integers, and add and subtract integers.

To learn more about this system and to see how the manipulatives work, go to this website:

http://www.singingturtle.com/pages/ADMINISTRATORS3.html

Let me know if you have any questions on this topic. It’s certainly an important issue.

Happy teaching!

— Josh