Positive and Negative Numbers Worksheet

Are your students starting to explore the idea of positive and negative numbers? Your students may have learned that two numbers are opposites if they are the same distance from 0 on a number line. Positive numbers are to the right of 0, and negative numbers are to the left of 0. Teach Starter has a worksheet ready for you to use in your classroom to help your students solidify their understanding of this maths skill.

With this worksheet, students will practise plotting integers and their opposites on a number line. Additionally, students will practise writing the opposite of positive and negative numbers. The end of this worksheet challenges students to read different scenarios and write the integers represented in each problem.

An answer key is included with your download to make marking fast and easy! 

Tips for Differentiation + Scaffolding 

In addition to independent student work time, use this worksheet as an activity for:

• guided maths groups 
• lesson warm-up
• lesson wrap-up
• fast finishers 
• homework assignment
• whole-class review (via smartboard).

If students need an additional challenge, encourage them to think of situations that would result in a positive number and those that would result in a negative number.  

For students who need support with this concept, encourage them to colour number lines with two different colours, one for positive numbers and one for negative numbers. Explain to students that when finding numbers on the number line, it is important to know which side of 0 you should look at. When finding the opposite, explain to students that the inter is the same number of spaces away from 0.

🖨️ Easily Download & Print

Use the dropdown icon on the Download button to choose between the PDF or editable Google Slides version of this resource. 

Because this resource includes an answer sheet, we recommend you print one copy of the entire file. Then, make photocopies of the blank worksheet for students to complete. 

To save paper, we suggest printing this 2-page worksheet double-sided.

Turn this teaching resource into a sustainable activity by printing on thick card and slipping it into a dry-erase sleeve. Students can record their answers with a whiteboard marker, then erase and reuse them. 

Additionally, project the worksheet onto a screen and work through it as a class by having students record their answers in their notebooks. 

This resource was created by Cassandra Friesen, a Teach Starter collaborator.