CCSS.Math.Content.6.NS.C
The standard
Apply and extend previous understandings of numbers to the system of rational numbers.
Common Core State Standards for Mathematics
What this standard means
Students need to make sense of rational numbers, including positives, negatives, fractions, decimals, and zero. They should place them on number lines, compare and order them, understand opposites, and use absolute value as distance from zero. They also need to read and plot points in all four quadrants.
Mastery looks like students using number lines and coordinate grids to explain their thinking, not just memorizing rules. Common trouble spots are thinking a negative with a larger digit is greater, mixing up opposite and absolute value, and reversing coordinates when graphing points.
Ways to teach it
- Have students build a floor number line with tape, then stand on numbers like -3.5, 0, and 2 1/4.
- Ask students to explain which is colder, -8 degrees or -3 degrees, using a number line in their answer.
- Give five numbers, including negatives and fractions, and have students order them from least to greatest in two minutes.
- Use a bank account example with deposits, withdrawals, and zero balance to connect positive and negative rational numbers.
Plan a lesson for CCSS.Math.Content.6.NS.C
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Related standards
- CCSS.Math.Content.7.NS.A.1
Apply and extend previous understandings of addition and subtraction to add and subtract rational numbers; represent addition and subtraction on a horizontal or...
- CCSS.Math.Content.HSN-RN.B
Use properties of rational and irrational numbers.
- CCSS.Math.Content.7.NS.A.2
Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division and of fractions to multiply and divide rational numbers.
- CCSS.Math.Content.7.NS.A
Apply and extend previous understandings of operations with fractions to add, subtract, multiply, and divide rational numbers.