Negative Temperatures: Free Printable Worksheet for Year 4

Negative Temperatures is a free printable worksheet for Year 4 (ages 8 to 9), in Key Stage 2. Work out temperatures that fall below zero. It comes from the Mini Minds Hub, a growing library of free printables from Jaques of London, the British games and toy company that has been making games for families since 1795.

It is two A4 pages. Page 1 is the activity for children. Page 2 is for the grown-up: it has notes on how to use the sheet, help for children who find it hard, a stretch idea, and the answers. Print it at home or in the classroom. Black and white printing works well.

What is on the sheet

This worksheet includes numbered questions with space to answer.

A look at what children will meet:

• It is 3 degrees. It falls by 5 degrees. What is the new temperature?
• It is minus 2 degrees. It rises by 4 degrees. What is it now?
• Which is colder: minus 4 or minus 1?
• It is minus 6 degrees. It rises by 6 degrees. What is it now?
• Put in order, coldest first: 2, minus 3, 0, minus 1.
• It is 1 degree. It falls by 4 degrees. What is the new temperature?
• How many degrees from minus 5 to 0?
• It is minus 3 degrees. It falls by 2 degrees. What is it now?

Who this is for

Year 4 (ages 8 to 9) in Key Stage 2.

Key Stage 2 covers Years 3 to 6, ages 7 to 11. Children are widening what they know and getting better at explaining their thinking, so activities that ask them to reason, not only recall, are especially useful. Use it at home, in class, on a rainy afternoon or at a family gathering.

What children practise

• Negative numbers
• Measures
• Reasoning

Read and compare temperatures below zero and work out rises and falls.

Learning focus and curriculum link

Subject: Maths: Measures. Key stage: Key Stage 2. It supports the subject at this level through short, focused practice.

This sheet is a practice and play activity. It supports classroom learning and is not a replacement for it.

How to use it

1. Print both pages. Page 1 is for the child. Keep page 2 for the grown-up.
2. Draw a thermometer line from minus 10 to 10 to help.
3. Work through the activity together the first time. Talk about each choice.
4. Check against the notes on page 2 and the answers.
5. Come back to it another day. Repeating a familiar activity builds confidence.

If it feels too hard

Use a number line on the table and count along it with a finger.

To stretch confident children

Make up two of your own temperature questions.

Make it a game

Read the weather forecast together.

Tips for parents and teachers

• Print on plain A4 paper. Black and white printing works too.
• Work through it together the first time, then let children try alone.
• Praise effort and thinking, not only correct answers.

A screen-free maths: measures activity for Year 4

Children spend a lot of time on screens. This is a screen-free maths: measures activity that needs only paper and a pencil. It works as quiet time after school, a rainy day activity, a holiday boredom buster or a calm moment before bed. Screen-free learning gives eyes a rest and gets children talking, thinking and writing by hand.

Free maths: measures resources for teachers

Teachers can use this worksheet as a starter, a plenary, an early finisher task, a supply teacher resource, a homework task or a table activity. It needs no preparation beyond printing. The learning focus and skills are listed above so you can match it to your planning, and page 2 gives support and stretch ideas for mixed ability groups.

Maths: Measures ideas for parents at home

You do not need to be a teacher to use this. Read the sheet through, sit with your child for the first go and let them lead. Short bursts of ten to fifteen minutes work better than long sessions. If you are looking for free maths: measures worksheets for Year 4, or simple home learning for the weekend or school holidays, this is a good place to start.

Home education and tutoring

Home educators and tutors can print this as part of a wider maths: measures plan. It pairs well with books, outdoor play and everyday talk. Because the sheet is free and printable, you can use it again for brothers and sisters or for revision a few weeks later.

Why it helps children learn

Hands-on, paper based activities slow learning down in a good way. Children read carefully, think before they answer and see their own progress on the page. Games and challenges add a reason to keep going. That mix of play and practice is why printable activities like this are popular with parents, teachers and home educators.

Curriculum links for teachers

This sheet supports the areas below. It is matched to the published England frameworks. Please check it against your own school plan.

What children will be able to do

• I can read temperatures below zero.
• I can say which of two temperatures is colder.
• I can work out a rise or a fall in temperature.

Check it worked

Ask these when the sheet is finished. Listen for the reasoning, not just the answer.

1. Which is colder, minus 3 or minus 7, and how do you know?
2. If it is minus 2 and rises by 5 degrees, what is the new temperature?
3. Where might you see a temperature below zero in real life?

Why negative temperatures matter

Temperature is an everyday place where numbers below zero turn up. A weather forecast can say that a night will fall to minus 3 degrees, and a thermometer shows a scale that runs on past zero. Our own view: a thermometer is a natural picture to hold in your head when you meet negative numbers for the first time.

The Met Office keeps a list of UK temperature records. It gives minus 27.2 degrees Celsius as the lowest daily minimum temperature record for Scotland, set at Braemar in Aberdeenshire on 10 January 1982. The same figure is listed for Braemar on 11 February 1895 and for Altnaharra in the Highlands on 30 December 1995. For England, the list gives minus 26.1 degrees Celsius at Newport in Shropshire on 10 January 1982. A child who can say which of those is colder, and by how much, is doing what this sheet practises.

The sheet has eight short questions. Some ask for a new temperature after a rise or a fall. One asks which of two temperatures is colder. One asks for four temperatures in order, coldest first. One asks how many degrees there are from minus 5 to 0.

What the research says children find hard

We did not find a study of Year 4 pupils and temperature worksheets that we could open and check, so we give no figures for that. What we can say comes from three sources we did read.

• The sign matters. A review for the Nuffield Foundation by Nunes and Bryant of the University of Oxford describes a study by Marthe on word problems with positive and negative numbers. It says that, in a study of French students aged 11 to 15, problems with the same signs were consistently easier than problems with different signs. We have not read the original study.
• It takes years. The same review says that building a solid understanding of additive relations is not completed in the first years of primary school. It adds that some problems are still difficult for students at the age of 15.
• It needs many goes. A companion Nuffield review on algebra, by Anne Watson of the University of Oxford, says students need multiple experiences over time to understand the role of negative numbers and the negative sign. That review is about older students and algebra, not Year 4.

The Ofsted mathematics review adds a general point. It says consistent mistakes are due to weak foundational knowledge, which is more likely to generate errors and misconceptions. It is about maths as a whole, not negative numbers in particular.

What Year 4 children are expected to learn

The national curriculum for England, in its Year 4 programme of study for number and place value, says pupils should be taught to:

• "count backwards through 0 to include negative numbers"

The idea is built on later. In Year 5, pupils are taught to "interpret negative numbers in context, count forwards and backwards with positive and negative whole numbers, including through 0". In Year 6, they are taught to "use negative numbers in context, and calculate intervals across 0".

So Year 4 is the first step. Many questions on this sheet count back through zero.

Why a short practice sheet can help

We want to be straight about this. We did not find a study of a negative temperatures worksheet, or of a game for negative numbers, that we could open and quote. So we are not going to promise an effect. What we can offer is reasoning from the sources above.

The Nuffield reviews say this takes many experiences over time. A short sheet is one more experience, with questions that change a little each time. The Ofsted mathematics review says frequent, low-stakes testing of taught content can help prepare pupils for summative tests by providing memory-enhancing opportunities to recall and apply taught content. That is a general finding about maths in school. It is not a finding about this sheet.

Our own view: the sheet can also work as a check. If a child says "minus 2" for 3 falling by 5, you know the idea is there. If they say 2, you know where to talk. The sheet is practice. It is not a lesson, and it does not replace one.

How to get the most out of Negative Temperatures

1. Draw the thermometer first. Draw a vertical line from minus 10 to 10 and mark zero clearly. Our own suggestion: stand it up, so that colder means lower.
2. Do question 1 together. Start at 3 and move down 5 steps. Say each number aloud: 2, 1, 0, minus 1, minus 2.
3. Ask for a prediction. Our suggestion: before your child counts, ask will the answer be above or below zero? Then check.
4. Use a finger. Let your child move a finger or a coin along the line. Our suggestion: count by hand so the steps are easy to see.
5. Talk about colder. For "minus 4 or minus 1", ask which one is further below zero.
6. Mark page 2 together. Ask your child to explain any answer that differs from the key.
7. Link it to real life. Read a weather forecast together and look for the lowest night temperature.
8. Come back another day. Our suggestion: come back to the sheet another day for ten minutes.

Common mistakes, and what to say

• Saying minus 4 is warmer than minus 1. Our own advice: ask "Which one is further below zero?" On the thermometer line, minus 4 sits lower, so it is colder.
• Stopping at zero. Our own advice: your child may say 3 falling by 5 gives 0. Say: "You have used 3 steps. How many are left?" Then keep counting below zero.
• Counting the start number as a step. Start on the number, then move one step for each degree. Ask your child to touch each new number as they say it.
• Dropping the word minus. An answer of "2" could mean 2 or minus 2. Ask your child to write minus every time.
• Going the wrong way for "rises". A rise moves up the line towards warmer. A fall moves down. Ask: "Which way on the line?"

Why teachers matter to us

We are a games company. We have been making games for families since 1795, and a printable does not replace a teacher. A 2011 interim report for the Sutton Trust looked at how much teachers affect pupil achievement. It found that in one year with a very effective maths teacher, pupils gain 40% more learning than with a poorly performing maths teacher. That finding is about maths teachers, and negative numbers are maths. We read it as a good reason to use a sheet like this next to a good lesson, not in place of one.

The report also said that for poor pupils the difference between a good and a bad teacher is a whole year's learning. It said that paper qualifications and similar details explain less than 8% of teacher quality. A University of Bristol working paper reached a similar view from a different angle: it found considerable variability in teacher effectiveness. We are grateful to the people who teach this well.

A caution on the Sutton Trust figures: the report draws on US studies as well as English ones. The 40% compares a very effective teacher (at the 84th percentile) with a poorly performing one (at the 16th percentile). The figure that paper credentials explain less than 8% of teacher quality comes from US research. We use them as pointers, not as a promise about any one child.

Why education matters to us

Numbers below zero look odd at first, and then they become ordinary. We want every child to feel that way about maths, and we want it to start with something they can hold and talk about. Jaques of London has made things for children to play with for generations. The Mini Minds Hub carries that on, with free, screen-free sheets a parent can use at a kitchen table, alongside the work of a teacher in a classroom.

Negative Temperatures: 20 questions and answers

1. What is a negative number?

It is a number below zero. On a thermometer, it is any reading under the zero mark.

2. What does "minus 2 degrees" mean?

It means 2 degrees below zero. On the thermometer line, it is two steps down from 0.

3. How do I say it aloud?

Say "minus 2" or "negative 2". Our own view: both are fine. This sheet says "minus".

4. Which is colder, minus 4 or minus 1?

Minus 4 is colder. It is 4 degrees below zero, and minus 1 is only 1 below.

5. What is the answer to "It is 3 degrees. It falls by 5 degrees"?

Minus 2 degrees. Count down: 2, 1, 0, minus 1, minus 2.

6. What is the answer to "minus 2 degrees, rises by 4"?

2 degrees. Count up: minus 1, 0, 1, 2.

7. How do I put 2, minus 3, 0 and minus 1 in order, coldest first?

Minus 3, minus 1, 0, 2. Picture them on the line and read from the bottom up.

8. Why does "from minus 5 to 0" give 5 and not minus 5?

The question asks how many degrees apart they are. A gap is a distance, so it is just 5.

9. What happens when it is minus 6 and the temperature rises by 6?

It lands exactly on 0.

10. Why is zero on a thermometer?

Our own explanation: zero is the starting point of the scale. Numbers above it are positive and numbers below it are negative.

11. How cold does it get in the UK?

The Met Office lists minus 27.2 degrees Celsius as the lowest daily minimum temperature record for Scotland. That was recorded at Braemar on 10 January 1982.

12. Is that the same for England?

No. The Met Office list gives minus 26.1 degrees Celsius at Newport in Shropshire on 10 January 1982 for England.

13. Can I use a number line instead of a thermometer?

Yes. A number line from minus 10 to 10 works well. Our suggestion: stand it up like a thermometer if you can.

14. What if my child counts the wrong way?

Check whether it is a rise or a fall first. Up the line is warmer. Down the line is colder.

15. Can I use coins or counters?

Yes. Our own suggestion: place a counter at the start temperature and move it one step at a time.

16. How do I make the sheet harder?

Try starting at minus 8 and falling by 7. Or ask for the gap between minus 4 and 3. Or ask your child to write their own questions.

17. How do I make it easier?

Use small falls at first, such as 1 or 2 degrees. Then add falls that cross zero.

18. When does school teach this?

The national curriculum for Year 4 says pupils count backwards through 0 to include negative numbers. Year 5 and Year 6 extend this to using negative numbers in context and calculating intervals across 0.

19. Is temperature the only way negative numbers show up?

No. The Nuffield algebra review says students need many experiences over time with the negative sign. This sheet is a first step with temperature only.

20. Does a good teacher matter more than a sheet?

A Sutton Trust interim report found that a very effective maths teacher gives pupils 40% more learning in a year than a poorly performing one. Our own view: a sheet is a supplement, not a substitute.

Sources

1. Department for Education, National curriculum in England: mathematics programmes of study: gov.uk.
2. Met Office, UK climate extremes: metoffice.gov.uk.
3. Nunes, T. and Bryant, P., Key understandings in mathematics learning, Paper 2: Understanding whole numbers, Nuffield Foundation, University of Oxford: nuffieldfoundation.org.
4. Watson, A., Key understandings in mathematics learning, Paper 6: Algebraic reasoning, Nuffield Foundation, University of Oxford: nuffieldfoundation.org.
5. Ofsted, Research review series: mathematics (2021): gov.uk.
6. Sutton Trust, Improving the impact of teachers on pupil achievement in the UK, interim findings (2011): dera.ioe.ac.uk.
7. Slater, Davies and Burgess, University of Bristol CMPO Working Paper 09/212 (2009): bristol.ac.uk.

Frequently asked questions

What age is Negative Temperatures for?

It is written for Year 4 (ages 8 to 9), in Key Stage 2.

What will children practise?

Read and compare temperatures below zero and work out rises and falls.

How do I use it?

Draw a thermometer line from minus 10 to 10 to help.

What if it feels too hard?

Use a number line on the table and count along it with a finger.

Is it free?

Yes. It is free to print for home and classroom use.

Is Negative Temperatures suitable for teachers to use in class?

Yes. Teachers can use it as a starter, plenary, early finisher task, homework or table activity. It needs no preparation beyond printing.

Is this a screen-free activity?

Yes. It is a screen-free printable that needs only paper and a pencil, so it works well for quiet time, rainy days and school holidays.

Can I use it for home education?

Yes. Home educators and tutors can use it on its own or as part of a wider plan. It is free to print again for brothers, sisters or revision.

How long does it take?

Most children finish page 1 in 10 to 20 minutes. The notes on page 2 suggest ways to make it shorter or longer.

Do I need to print in colour?

No. It prints well in black and white on plain A4 paper.

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