Jake and I were working with his adding and subtracting this morning. We take turns making equations and answering them. It was my turn to answer so he made an equation that was 30-39=_____ when I told him my answer (-9) he looked puzzled. He asked what a negative is so I tried explaining it to him with the typical apples explanation. I gave him the equation of 5-6 and the conversation went like this:
Me: You have 5 apples and you need to give them to 6 people. How many people did not get an apple.
Jake: zero
Me: Jake, put up 5 fingers
He complies
Me: Now take 6 fingers away
Jake: I can’t
Me: I know - so how many fingers do you have to give to make 6?
He holds up his thumb from his other hand to show me - 1
Me: So, what do you have?
Jake: A thumb!
I was laughing so hard I almost forgot that he was still waiting for clarification. He totally gets negative numbers now that we did a few examples this morning. I’m so proud!
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