December 18 - 22

 I can describe the location of a point on a Cartesian plane using coordinates.

In Grade 6, we learned that a coordinate grid is a set of horizontal and vertical lines that allows you to describe positions on it. The horizontal axis is a number line called the x-axis, and the vertical axis is a number line called the y-axis. The axes meet at the origin, which is the point (0, 0).

To name a point on the grid, you describe how far to move horizontally from the origin to the first coordinate and how far to move vertically to the second coordinate.

We practiced our skills on the first quadrant of the cartesian plane in an artistic way! Students  designed their initials in block letters on the cartesian plane. Next, they identified the ordered pairs (coordinates) of all the vertices in their letters.

Sometimes you want to move left or down from the origin on a grid. To be able to do this, the number lines on both axes are extended to include negative values.

The four sections of the grid are called Quadrant 1, Quadrant 2, Quadrant 3, and Quadrant 4. “Quad” means 4.

When students were introduced to the other three quadrants, they practiced identifying and plotting ordered pairs by playing Four Quadrant Cartesian Plan Battleship. They also completed a mystery picture activity!