Put your students' integer-addition skills to the test with competitive team games. For these games, your class is divided into several teams. The teams then compete against one another, answering integer-addition questions. Ideas for games include integer-addition races, in which teams compete to answer an integer-addition question the fastest and points are awarded to the teams that correctly solve the problems; the team that earns the most points wins. Another game may involve teams working together to solve a list of integer-addition questions--the winner of the game being the team that correctly answers all of the questions on the list the fastest.
Engage students in small-group integer-addition activities, which are ideal to use during center time. As the name suggests, small groups of students compete against one another to solve integer-addition problems. Integer addition war is one game that students can play. This game involves each student selecting one card from a pile of negative numbers and one card from a pile of positive numbers. The students add together the integers on their cards and the student who has the highest sum collects all cards; the winner is the student who collects the most cards. For another small-group activity, children can work together to figure out the integers that when added together, equal a given sum. Provide small groups with a list of sums and a number line and encourage them to work together to determine which two integers equal the sums on the list.
Whole-class activities are another way that you can provide your students with integer-addition practice. Engage students in an activity in which they must name the missing integer. On the board, write an addition problem with a missing addend; for example, -4+___ = 2. Students must try to determine the missing addend in the problem. Another option is to play a game of around the world. Write integer-addition problems on index cards. Have students sit in a circle and randomly select one student to stand up behind the person on his left. Hold up a card and the student who is standing and the student who is sitting in front of him must solve the problem. The first student of the two who answers the problem stands behind the next player in the circle. The player who makes it completely around the circle wins the game.
Give your students an opportunity to move about while practicing their integer-addition skills. Write integers on an inflated beach ball. Toss the ball around the class and when students catch the ball, they must add together the two numbers underneath their hands. For another physical activity, draw a grid on a piece of butcher paper and write integers inside each box on the grid. Lay the grid on the floor and provide children with two objects to toss onto the paper; coins, dice or bean bags, for example. Children must add together the two integers on which their tossed items land.