Adding integers starts with the signs. When both numbers have the same sign, add their absolute values and keep the common sign. When the signs are different, subtract the smaller absolute value from the larger one and keep the sign of the number with the larger absolute value. This worksheet gives Grade 6 students plenty of practice with both cases, so the rule becomes a habit rather than a guess.
Subtraction of integers becomes addition once the opposite is used. To subtract an integer, add its opposite, and subtracting a negative number becomes addition. Students also practise deciding the direction of movement on the number line: moving left means subtracting, and moving right means adding. Seeing subtraction as addition of the opposite makes questions such as subtracting a negative number much easier to handle.
This four-page printable worksheet is organised into six sections, followed by a riddle and challenging questions. Section A uses multiple-choice questions about adding and subtracting integers, opposites, and the rules for signs. Section B provides fill-in-the-blanks practice, including number line direction and rewriting subtraction as addition. Section C asks students to judge statements as true or false, and Section D matches expressions in one column with their values in the other. Section E gives short-answer practice, and Section F applies addition and subtraction of integers to real-life situations involving temperature, points, height, and game scores. A riddle and two challenging problems finish the worksheet and invite students to explain their thinking.
Students begin with multiple-choice questions that check whether they recognise the correct rule and result, then move to fill-in-the-blanks and true-or-false questions that test the rules in words. Matching and short-answer questions ask them to work out results for themselves, and the real-life problems show why the signs matter outside the textbook. The riddle and challenging questions ask for reasons as well as results, so students practise explaining addition and subtraction of integers, not only calculating.
Parents and teachers can use this worksheet for classroom practice, homework, or revision before a test. The sections build from recognition to calculation to application, so it is easy to see which rule a student still needs to practise. Because the worksheet is a free printable PDF, it can be used again for extra practice, and its mix of question types keeps the practice varied while staying focused on addition and subtraction of integers.
Add the absolute values of the numbers and keep their common sign. For example, adding two negative integers gives a negative result, because the sum keeps the negative sign.
Rewrite the subtraction as adding the opposite. Subtracting a negative number becomes addition, so the calculation is changed to adding the opposite of the number being subtracted.
The sum is zero. A number and its opposite are the same distance from zero on opposite sides of the number line, so adding them cancels the values out.
Temperatures below zero, points lost, height below a starting point, and scores that fall are written with negative integers, while rises, gains, climbs, and points scored are added as positive values. Adding and subtracting the signed numbers then gives the final temperature, total points, or final height.
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