Teaching the Common Core Math Standards With Hands-On Activities, Grades 3-5 (90 page)

5.

Instruct your students how to plot points in the coordinate plane, for example, (5, 2). The first number represents the
-coordinate and the second number represents the
-coordinate. Explain that to plot points, students must begin at the origin.

They must move horizontally first, the number of places indicated by the
-coordinate.

• If the
  -coordinate is positive (greater than 0), move to the right.
  
• If the
  -coordinate is negative (less than 0), move to the left.
  
• If the
  -coordinate is 0, stay at the origin.
  

Next they must move vertically from the
-coordinate, the number of places indicated by the
-coordinate.

• If the
  -coordinate is positive, move up (from the point you stopped at on the
  -axis). If the
  -coordinate is negative, move down.
  
• If the
  -coordinate is 0, stay there.
  

Mark the point and label the coordinates.

6.
Instruct your students to plot the following points: (0, 2), (
), (
) and (3, 5).