Adding and Subtracting Negatives Lesson

Full lesson plan on how to add and subtract negative numbers. Topic is explained initially through putting in and then removing -1’s from a number to show how the sums decrease then increase. This then moves into the ± and – rules.

There are many practice questions for independent work, with some worded extension questions followed by a GCSE style question for everyone to attempt.

The lesson is summed up with a “Spot the Mistakes” plenary to help catch out some misconceptions. Pupils must identify where the mistakes are (if there are any) and provide written feedback on how to improve.

EDIT: I have added in a second plenary option, an Always Sometimes Never activity to encourage discussion and mastery and help uncover misconceptions.