Comparing and Ordering Positive and Negative Integers

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1 Getting Started
2 Watch and Notice
3 Try It Together
4 Write the Signs in Your Copy
5 Class Challenge
Pupil practice

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

Illustration for Getting Started Here are two winter temperatures from the same cold night: −8 °C and −3 °C.

Key point

First question: which one is colder? Hands up when you have decided.

Now the tricky one: which one is the bigger number? These two questions might not give you the same answer, and that is exactly what we are going to sort out. Be ready to say how you know.

Teacher Notes

Ask the two questions in order: colder first (most pupils will agree −8 is colder), then bigger. Take three hands-up answers on the second, not open call-outs. Expect a split: some will pick −8 as bigger because 8 is the larger digit. Do not correct yet — hold the disagreement; the number line in the next step settles it. Revoice both views: "so some of us think −8 is bigger, some think −3 — let's see who's right."

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

The interactive shows three pairs of numbers on a number line from −10 to 10. Watch where each one sits, left or right. Further left means smaller.

Teacher Notes

−8 and −3: resolves the opening argument. −8 is smaller because it is further left, even though 8 is the bigger digit. Anchor phrase: further left means smaller.

−6 and +2: point to zero as the dividing line. +2 is on the right, so it is bigger. Any positive beats any negative.

−10 and −1: take a prediction before revealing. −1 is bigger because it is further right. Head off the slip that the bigger-looking digit (−10) means the bigger number.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Try It Together ~11 mins

Today we work these pairs of integers together, one at a time, on the board. An integer is just a whole number that can be positive or negative, with zero in the middle. For each pair, one pupil places both numbers on the line at the board; then the whole class decides which sign goes between them, < or >, and we write it up. If you are not the pupil at the board, your job is to watch the line and be ready to call the sign — that is how everyone takes part.

Your job

Watch the line and be ready to call the sign — that is how everyone takes part.

We will start with −4 and 1 (a negative against a positive), then −9 and −2 (two negatives, wide apart), then 0 and −5 (zero against a negative), and finally −7 and −6 — two negatives sitting right beside each other, where you have to look carefully at which is that little bit further left.

Where does each integer sit?

Teacher Notes

This round is for talking it through together — pupils take turns at the board and the class agrees or corrects out loud. The interactive places the markers; choosing and writing the sign is a spoken and board-written task, not something the interactive captures.

The interactive loads on the first pair (−4 and 1). For each of the remaining three pairs, drag the two markers to the new values (−9/−2, then 0/−5, then −7/−6) so the class always sees the pair on the line. Work them in this order so the round builds: negative-vs-positive first (easiest, the positive always wins), then two spread-out negatives, then zero against a negative (zero beats every negative), and finally the close pair −7 and −6 as the pause where care matters most.

For each pair, place both markers, ask "which is further left?", then have the class name the sign and write it on the board between the two numbers. Keep revoicing the open mouth faces the bigger number. Rotate four pupils to place the markers.

+15 XP

4 - Write the Signs in Your Copy ~3 mins

COPYBOOK MOMENT

In your maths copy, write each pair of integers below and place the correct < or > sign between them. Then, underneath, order one full set of five integers from smallest to biggest.

Before you start the five-number set, we will do one together on the board so everyone sees the method. Watch this set: −4, 2, −1, 0, −6. We place each one on the number line in our heads (or sketch a quick line), then read strictly from furthest left to furthest right. Furthest left is smallest, so the order is −6, −4, −1, 0, 2. That is the full method: line them up left to right, then write them in that order.

−5 ___ 2
−9 ___ −4
0 ___ −3
−8 ___ −10
Order these smallest to biggest: 3, −7, 0, −2, 6

Teacher Notes

Walk the room glancing at which way each sign points and at the order of the five-integer list — this is whole-class copybook practice, not marking. Watch for the reversed sign on the two-negatives pairs.

Before pupils open copies, run the worked set on the board: −4, 2, −1, 0, −6. Sketch a quick −10 to 10 line (or point to the class line), mark the five values, then read left to right and write −6, −4, −1, 0, 2. Cue: furthest left first, zero beats every negative, positives last. Slip to watch: pupils sorting by digit size (putting −1 before −6) instead of position. Then release them to the copybook list.

+10 XP

5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Key point

Between placements, read a small set aloud in order from smallest to biggest as a class before you press Check. The Check button only confirms where a marker sits, not the spoken ordering.

Now we place a series of integers on the −10 to 10 line, one at a time, and press Check on each placement. Between placements, the class orders a small named set aloud from smallest to biggest.

Place the integers on the line

Teacher Notes

These are the practice questions — pupils take turns at the board, place the called integer, and press Check to confirm the placement. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

The Check button confirms only where the marker sits. The ordering practice is a spoken class task you run between placements: after placing −5, ask the class whether −5 or 3 is bigger; after placing −9, ask them to say the smallest of −9, −2 and 4; after placing 0, remind them 0 beats every negative; after placing −6, ask which of the close pair −6 and −5 is smaller; after placing −7, ask the class to read the set −7, −3, 0, 5 aloud from smallest to biggest. These last two are where you stretch the strongest pupils — get them to justify with "because it is further left" rather than by the digits.

+15 XP

Pupil practice

Module 1 · Place Value, Decimals and the Number System Number

Lesson 11 · Comparing and Ordering Positive and Negative Integers

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Teacher Class Feed

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

3 - Try It Together ~11 mins

Where does each integer sit?

4 - Write the Signs in Your Copy ~3 mins

5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Place the integers on the line

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