How to put integers in order

Ordering integers is comparing, repeated. With negatives, the farther a number is from zero, the smaller it is, so −1,679 comes before −50 when you go from least to greatest. The top half runs from greatest to least and the bottom half from least to greatest, which forces your child to read each instruction rather than run on autopilot.

Behind it sits 6.NS.C.7.a, where order means position on a number line, stretched here to lists of four and five numbers.

The last set is labeled 13 although it comes after 16; it is simply the eighth list of the second half.

Set 8 is a good place to start: −11, −50, −1,679 and 0. The quick win is zero, the greatest of the four. Then the negatives line up by distance, closest to zero first.

Expect a stumble in set 2, where a child going from greatest to least writes −19 before −7 because 19 looks bigger. Ask, "Which would be warmer as a temperature?"

Try saying, "Circle the negatives, then sort each group." Your child discovers that the two halves are mirror jobs. The answers on page 2 match every list on the sheet.

Line up the week's forecast temperatures from coldest to warmest, then flip the order. During a match, a sports table with goal differences like −3, 0 and 5 makes a quick ordering game for the team in last place.

How Much Is a Million?, by David M. Schwartz, helps children feel how far apart big numbers are. Read it together, then ask how far −1,679 sits from 0.

Let the praise land on the process: "You split the list at zero, then sorted." Next, word problems use integers and absolute values with debts and changes.