NY Next Generation Math NY-6.NS.5
The Standard
Understand that positive and negative numbers are used together to describe quantities having opposite directions or values. Use positive and negative numbers to represent quantities in real-world contexts, explaining the meaning of 0 in each situation.
New York State Next Generation Mathematics Learning Standards
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students use positive and negative numbers to describe quantities with opposite directions or values. They explain what zero means in each context.
What Mastery Looks Like
- The student represents 12 meters below sea level as -12 and a 12-dollar credit as +12. The student explains that zero means sea level in one context and no balance in the other.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may treat a negative sign as meaning bad rather than a direction or value relative to zero. They may assume zero has the same contextual meaning in every situation.
How to Assess It
- Give contexts for temperature, elevation, and account balance. Ask students to assign signed values and state the meaning of zero in each.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Place context cards above and below a floor zero line, then label each position with a signed number.
Ask students how zero differs for temperature, elevation, and a bank balance.
Play opposite-context match with debits and credits, rises and drops, and values above and below zero.
Record daily temperatures or building-floor positions with signed numbers and define the reference zero.
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Printable NY-6.NS.5 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- NY-7.NS.1.a
Describe situations in which opposite quantities combine to make 0.
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- NY-6.NS.6.a
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- NY-7.NS.1.b
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