What a difference! (Temperature/Integers/Absolute Value)

It has been quite the winter in the Boston area.  So far, we have had 101.8 inches of snow this winter; the second snowiest winter of all time!  Along with snow, there have been some extremely cold temperatures, often measuring below zero when waking up in the morning.  Sometimes these temperatures fluctuate a lot during a given day or over the span of a week.

Weather, especially negative temperatures, presents a great opportunity to talk to kids about integers, absolute value, and the difference between temperatures.  Some children might benefit from using number lines to help them work with integers.

graphic courtesy of: myfoxboston.com

Given the above graphic from a recent weather forecast, there are many questions students can answer (or ask!) from the given seven-day forecast.  Some of these questions are more basic, and some are more advanced.  Different groupings of these questions could be used for different ages/grades or to allow for differentiation for different abilities in the classroom.  Some children might benefit from the use of a number line while others might have other strategies for answering the questions.

• What is the highest temperature during the week?  What day is the temperature that high?
• What is the lowest temperature during the week?  What day is the temperature that low?
• What is the difference between the high and low temperature for Saturday? For Thursday? For Tuesday?  Explain, in writing or in conversation, how you calculated each temperature difference?
• What day has the largest temperature difference? What is the temperature difference?
• What day has the smallest temperature difference? What is the temperature difference?
• What is the difference between the highest and lowest temperatures of the whole week? Write a subtraction number sentence to illustrate this difference.

**You can find an editable/printable version (using Word) of the above questions, along with solutions, on my Worksheets/Solutions page.

Age/Grade Guidelines:

In Massachusetts, the Common Core State Standards have been adopted.  Integers & absolute value are introduced in grade 6.  Some of the harder questions above would be suitable for 6th grade or higher, while others could be discussed with younger children as well.  If negative integers were omitted, many of the questions above could be solved by children as early as 2nd grade. (CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.NS.C.5, CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.NS.C.7