Maths Library

Negative Numbers: Year 5 maths

Students explore the concept of negative numbers including ordering, comparing, and interpreting them in real-world contexts. Practice covers temperature changes, elevation, and plotting directed numbers on number lines.

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What this covers

Negative Numbers is taught in Year 5 (age 9 to 10, KS2) as a main teaching focus. It sits in the Number strand.

Worked example

The temperature is -3°C and falls by 5°C. What is the new temperature

  1. Start at -3 on the number line
  2. Move 5 units down: -3 - 5
  3. Reach -8

Answer: -8°C

Difficulty scale

The sheet generator offers five difficulty settings for this topic.

  1. Compare and order directed integers between -10 and 10
  2. Read values on vertical and horizontal number lines crossing zero
  3. Solve context problems involving temperature drops or rises across zero
  4. Calculate directed intervals between positive and negative values
  5. Compare and order negative decimals and fractions

Common mistakes

  • Believing -8 is greater than -3 because 8 is larger than 3
  • Assuming zero is a positive number

Curriculum links

Indicative matches to National Curriculum for England. Check wording and codes against the official document.

  • Interpret negative numbers in context, counting forwards and backwards with positive and negative whole numbers, including through zero.

Sample sheet and answers

Six questions at the level's usual difficulty. Open the editor to change, add or regenerate any of them.

Negative Numbers

Year 5 maths

Qs
6
Marks
6
NameDateScore / 6
1.
The temperature is −1°C. It falls by 3 degrees. What is the new temperature?
[1]
2.
Put these in order, smallest first: −7, −3, 9, 2
[1]
3.
How many degrees are there from −1°C up to 1°C?
[1]
4.
How many degrees are there from −8°C up to 6°C?
[1]
5.
Put these in order, smallest first: 8, −6, −7, 6
[1]
6.
How many degrees are there from −8°C up to 8°C?
[1]

Answer key

  1. −4°CFalling means subtracting: −1 − 3 = −4
  2. −7, −3, 2, 9Negative numbers get smaller as the digits get larger; −7, −3, 2, 9
  3. 21 to zero, then zero to 1; 1 + 1 = 2
  4. 148 to zero, then zero to 6; 8 + 6 = 14
  5. −7, −6, 6, 8Negative numbers get smaller as the digits get larger; −7, −6, 6, 8
  6. 168 to zero, then zero to 8; 8 + 8 = 16