Positive-Negative Numbers Unit Starter

We started our new maths unit exploring positive & negative numbers by nominating things that had happened in our day. 

We chose four events and gave each a positive or negative value.

We then added or subtracted each event and then came to a 'happiness level'.

We then went around and shared how 'happy' we were.

This hopefully tuned us in to what positive /negative area and what we doing when we add / subtract them.

( I had found this great idea on the nrich website which is full of great maths challenges)

From this we then unpacked our central idea.

To become experts on this central idea, what sort of things do we need to discover? 

Our ideas:

As a pre-assessment and to reflect / tune in to what we already knew about positive /negative numbers, we spent time recording and then partner sharing our prior knowledge using our lines of enquiry:

The reverse side of this recording page is the same.  As we continue with our unit, the children reflect and record what knew things they have discovered about each line of enquiry. 

As we know, reflecting is an important part of the learning process.

This also serves a comprehensive formative assessment where I can monitor how to best guide each child with learning experiences suited to their needs.

During this we generated some wonderings we wanted to explore and we posted these on our wonder wall:

We will continue adding and taking these away throughout our unit as our learning progresses.