Virginia SOL 6.NS.2.d
The Standard
Identify and describe the absolute value of an integer as the distance from zero on the number line.
Virginia Standards of Learning for Mathematics · The student will reason and use multiple strategies to represent, compare, and order integers.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students locate positive and negative integers on a number line and determine how far each is from zero. They write that distance using absolute value notation.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students correctly find absolute values from symbols, integers, and number-line models. They explain why opposite integers have equal absolute values and why absolute value is never negative.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think absolute value always changes a number from negative to positive. They may confuse absolute value with the opposite, or write a negative distance.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Plot −6 and 3 on a number line, find each absolute value, and explain each answer using distance from zero.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Build a floor number line with tape, then have students stand on integers and count their steps to zero.
Ask students to explain in writing why |−8| and |8| are equal, using a number line as evidence.
Play an absolute value match game using cards with integers, absolute value expressions, and matching distances from zero.
Compare temperatures above and below zero, then identify which temperatures are the same distance from zero.
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Printable 6.NS.2.d Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 6.NS.2.a
Represent integers (e.g., number lines, concrete materials, pictorial models), including models derived from contextual situations, and identify an integer repr...
- 8.NS.1.b
Use rational approximations (to the nearest hundredth) of irrational numbers to compare, order, and locate values on a number line. Radicals may include both po...
- 6.NS.2.b
Compare and order integers using a number line.
- 6.CE.2.c
Simplify an expression that contains absolute value bars | | and an operation with two integers (e.g., –|5 – 8| or |−12| 8 ) and represent the result on a numbe...
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