Teach negative numbers as if they are natural. Don't the number line
posters run both directions? Leave the negatives on the subtraction
chart. The pattern is quite obvious.
I recall talking with other kids on the elementary school bus about what
a negative number could possibly mean. I think, though, that I'd have
understood debt, and keeping track of debt.
Sally lends Bobby a nickel, which he spends. Later Bobby finds a nickel
but has to give it to Sally because he owes it to her. After he gets a
nickel Bobby still has no money.
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